Group Projects Aren't For Everyone
by xTheFallingGinkgoChildx
Summary: An XMFC Highschool AU Erik was a tough kid with more people that feared him then he could count. Charles was the only openly gay student with a bright academic future. That is, if he can survive being put in a group project with Erik and live to tell the tale. Charles x Erik & Hank x Raven
1. Late as Usual

"You're pairing _him_ up with _me!_"

Mr. Howlett, 5 year art teacher, just wanted to leave his classroom and go home. It had been a long Friday and, hell, it's been a long week. He was sick of his students; even the ones that genuinely liked art class were getting on his nerves. Having a student complain about the group project on a Friday after the bell had rung was the last thing Mr. Howlett wanted to end his day with.

"Listen up, Lensherr, the groups were all chosen randomly. And besides, maybe he could help you get higher than a C- this quarter." Mr. Howlett began to back up his things in his briefcase. Maybe that would show Erik that he wanted to leave-

"I don't want to end up strangling him or myself." Erik wasn't going to do this. He couldn't. Erik didn't move an inch as his art teacher scrambled around the room, collecting his belongings.

_Damn. _Mr. Howlett knew he wasn't going to shake off Erik so easily.

"Like I said, the groups were random and it's either work with Xavier or fail. You are the last student I want to be held back." Mr. Howlett put his jacket on. "Don't you have a bus to catch or something?" And with that Erik student, fists clenched, muttering curse words in German under his breath.

Charles Xavier was a spoiled rich kid in Erik's grade who had everything that Erik didn't. Besides the gobs of money, Charles was _smart; _he, his friend Moira, and some nerdy underclassman named Hank McCoy were said to be the only hope of intelligence in the whole damn school. Erik scoffed at that thought as he pulled books from his locker. Sure, Charles was pretty smart but teachers made him out to be some Greek god of knowledge. Even Moira and Hank combined were below Xavier's level. Erik did have to sympathize for him though; Charles was the only openly gay person in the whole entire school and he sure did get picked on for it.

"Erik, we need to talk." Erik closed his locker door and came face to face with Emma Frost, the queen bee of the school. _Scheisse! _Erik shouted internally.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Emma, but I'm gonna be late-" Emma's gaze hardened. Her skin was snow white and her platinum blonde hair hung in loose curls around her shoulders. She was wearing the usual: something skin tight with a plunging neckline that showed far too much cleavage to not be dress coded. Emma smiled as she noticed Erik looked at her outfit.  
"My eyes are up here, honey. I need twenty bucks for tonight." Emma held out her hand.

Erik's eyes widened. "For what?"

"Shaw and I are going out on a little date tonight. We need the cash." Emma smiled and held out her hand closer to Erik as if he was some bank teller.

"And why on Earth would I pay for you just so Shaw can get laid?" He knew she had money. She was rich-not Xavier rich-but she still had more money than Erik could ever dream of having in his whole life.

Emma smiled and stepped closer to Erik, now only a few inches from him. "Because then I'd have to repay the favor." She began to run her hand up Erik's thigh. Erik, not aroused at all, pushed her off of him.

"Sorry Emma, but I don't need an STD." Erik winked at her and walked away as the queen bee stood there, jaw dropped. Emma Frost _does not_ get rejected.

By the time Erik had made it outside, after arguing with his art teacher and having one of his so called friends try to squeeze money and sex out of him, all the buses had left.  
"Well fuck…" Erik didn't have his phone on him and his mom was working until late tonight. "Looks like I'm stuck unless I can get a ride from someone." Erik only had about six people he considered his friends: Shaw, Emma, Janos, Azazel, Alex and Angel. At least half that list hated him (the feeling was mutual) and the rest he only sat with at lunch. Erik sighed, sat down on one of the park benches and began to read some book on engineering.

"Could you use a ride?"

Erik looked up, never being more relieved in his life. The car in front of him was a nice white sports model of some fancy car Erik didn't even know the name of for two reasons: A. It wasn't German and B. He stopped looking at cars that he could never afford because it made his mother sad to see him looking at it and knowing he could never have it. Erik heart began to sink when he realize who at his school could possibly own such a car.

Charles Xavier smiled at him from the window.

Half of Erik wanted to just stay at school until midnight and wait for him mom. The other half knew that that Erik would never last.  
"Oh," Erik got to his feet. "Yeah." He felt embarrassed for needing a ride, especially from Xavier. _It probably makes him happy to help the 'less fortunate'! _Erik thought sourly as he got into Charles' car.

"You're Erik, right? I do believe we are partners for Mr. Howlett's art project." Charles chirped as he started up the car again.

_How is he so happy all the damn time? _

"Yeah, we are." The conversation ended as Charles sensed that Erik wasn't in the mood for idle chit-chat.

"I live behind the Korean grocery store." Charles shot him a confused glance. "The rent is cheap because our landlord can't speak proper English."

Charles pulled up to a rundown apartment building. He knew Erik lived alone with his mother so he didn't except much after hearing about their money problems. Erik got out of the car and mumbled a thank you to Charles.  
"This is nice." Charles said with a smile. The smile didn't seem fake, which surprised Erik.

Erik pulled his backpack from the backseat. "You don't have to lie. I hear you kitchen is bigger than my whole apartment. "  
"Money doesn't buy one happiness, Erik." _Pshh. What an old fart. _Erik said to himself.

He stopped and turned to Charles. "Then why are you so happy all the time?" Erik's face was mixed with curiosity and frustration. _How dare he say that I have it better off than him!_

Charles Xavier simply smiled again and looked right at Erik. "I try to find something good in everything."

**A/N: This is my first Cherik fanfic so any critics are MUCH welcomed!**


	2. Gay Painting Sessions!

**A/N: In case I wasn't clear, this is a modern day AU with no powers (: Enjoy!**

The weekend flew by shockingly quickly, much to Erik's dismay, and before he knew it, it was Monday morning again. His old beat up alarm clock buzzed at exactly 8 am. Groaning miserably, Erik slapped the snooze button as hard as possible. It was almost 8:30 by the time he rolled out of bed, hair wild and bags under his eyes. After a quick shower or freezing cold water (_seems like the hot water isn't working again... _He thought irritably), Erik met his mother at the kitchen table. Edie handed him a plate of bread with a thin stack of meat and cheese.

"I'm not hungry, Mama." Erik said, putting his backpack on. "Please, eat it yourself. You do not look healthy, Mama." Erik was worried. Edie was getting so thin; her skin was flushed pale and the bags under her eyes were much worse than his.  
She gave him a small quiver of a smile. "It's my job to make sure you're healthy, not the other way around. If you're sure, I will have it then. Have a good day at school, Junge." Edit gave him a hug and a kiss on the top of his head. She truly did hate to see him worry about her…

Erik arrived at school at 8:50, leaving him just enough time to grab his books, chat with friends (if he had any he actually wanted to talk to) and make to class on time. He opened his locker and began shuffling his books to his backpack when a voice behind him called out.

"There you are! I've been looking for you all morning!" Erik turned around and to no surprise, Charles Xavier came running up to him and a smile that stretched across his whole face. _Shocker, he's happy again_. He almost made Erik sick with all his happiness.

Charles stood right next to Erik as he continued to put his books away. Charles seemed to teetered under the weight of his own backpack when he stood still.  
"I called you this weekend but-" Erik shot Charles a confused and pissed off look. "-I got the number from the school directory. Don't worry; I called you about school work not about a date. I know how important your reputation is to you. I was calling about that art project and if you wanted to work on it this weekend but I ended up talking to some elder man named Denise who was convinced that I was communist spy of some sorts…He couldn't even old the phone correctly. I think you may have someone tapping into your phone line." Erik's eyebrow rose. Charles' face was dead serious and after staring at him for a few seconds, Erik couldn't help but start to laugh.  
"Denise lives in my apartment. He's an old World War II vet. Me and Mama can't afford a telephone so our whole apartment shares two telephones in the lobby." Erik saw Charles' face turn pink from embarrassment.  
"Oh, Please, forgive me. I just-" Charles said, staring at his feet. The 2 minute warning bell cut him off.  
"Don't worry about it. I have to head to German. I'll see you in Art, I guess..." Erik slammed his locker, like always, and started walking to his German 6 class.  
Erik couldn't help but replay the moment from the morning over again in his head during German. It was enjoyable to watch the school's smartest student be wrong for a change. Charles wasn't as bad as Erik had expected. He wasn't about to go as far as to consider him a friend but he didn't think of him as an enemy.

Erik's thinking session was interrupted when Sebastian Shaw, Erik's oldest 'frienemy', tapped his shoulder. He turned his head to see a very displeased Shaw.  
"Thanks for the money yesterday, Erik." Shaw's words were coated heavily with sarcasm and pissed off anger. "It's only twenty bucks man!" Shaw's voice was low enough so that the teacher couldn't hear but loud enough that Erik could tell he was angry.  
"If it's 'only twenty bucks man!', why couldn't you have paid it?" Erik's face was stone hard and his expression was blank. He didn't have the time, or money, to deal with Shaw right now. Erik turned his body and tried to focus on what the teacher was saying for the first time today.  
Shaw wasn't giving up so easily. "I saw you talking to Xavier this morning. You two going on a date somewhere tonight?" Erik rolled his eyes.

"No, we were talking about an art project, dumb ass." Erik whispered back forcefully. He didn't need more rumors spread about him, especially not ones saying he was gay.

Erik could feel Shaw smiling. Erik turned his head around, only to see Shaw and his friend Janos mocking Erik and Charles.  
"Oh Charles! I want you to draw me like one of your French girls! Wearing this!" Shaw dramatically draped his hand over his t-shirt. Janos, half-laughing, replied "Alright!"

"Wearing only this, Charles!" Both Shaw and Janos began to die of laughter. Erik had enough. He was sick of all the shit Shaw made him put up with. Erik stood up and slammed his hand on the desk.

"Halt die Schnauze! Fick dich Arschloch!" Erik yelled right in Shaw's face. To say the least, it shut both of the up pretty well. It also silenced the whole classroom.

Frau Monroe's face went white. Never in her 10 years of teaching had she ever had a student scream at another student, yelling 'shut your snout' and finished it off with a 'fuck you, asshole'. She managed to close her jaw long enough to grab Erik by the shirt and drag him outside. Writing up a detention slip, Frau Monroe's eyebrows furrowed. Erik watched her write the slip while he stood there with dread.

"Look, I heard what Sebastian and Janos said to you to make you retaliate but that doesn't make you justified. You are only swooping down to their level by reacting. I am only giving you one day of detention because you are my star pupil and you're _normally_ behaved." That comment made Erik smile slightly. Frau Monroe was cool-for a teacher.

Erik was forced to stay outside for the rest of the forty minutes left of class. He made a note to himself that the next time he wanted to call someone an asshole in class he would do it near the end of the block. To make his day even better, a cheerful Charles Xavier spotted him while walking in the halls. He was carrying a stack of books that covered his face. But despite holding a gigantic stack of books, Charles was still as happy as ever.

"Erik! What a pleasant surprise! What brings you out to this part of the hallway?" Charles asked, setting down his huge book stack. Erik could tell her was panting a little from holding the weight.

Erik chuckled to himself. "I called Sebastian Shaw an asshole. Well, I kinda yelled it. I got kicked out and detention." He held up his pink detention slip with a shrug.

"Erik! You can't go around calling people…_that_." Charles felt uncomfortable saying such foul language.

"Asshole? Well he deserved it. He…he was making fun of us." Erik was unsure how to word it. He knew he didn't want to tell Charles that Shaw said they were going to have a naked painting session.

The tips of Charles' ears went pink when Erik said 'us'. He didn't know why though; Erik wasn't really his type. Charles also promised himself he wouldn't fall for straight guys. But that seemed so hard to do with Erik around…_Wait what? No, I don't like him. No, Charles you don't. You just met him! Calm your mind. _Charles squirmed awkwardly due to his inner turmoil. Yes, Erik was very attractive but he also probably hated Charles. Everyone (except the teachers and his sister Raven) hated Charles.

Erik raised an eyebrow. "A-Are you okay?" He wasn't used to seeing Charles show any emotion other than extreme and sickening happiness. Charles nodded and decided that that was his cue to leave.  
He went to pick up the massive stack of books when he just stood back up straight and sighed.  
"Erik, this might be a shocker but I'm a lot weaker than I look." Erik snorted with laughter and Charles shot him a glance. "Could you help me carry these books upstairs to Mr. Summers? I promised I'd deliver them before the end of the block."

"Doesn't he teach ninth graders? Why are you helping him?"  
"I volunteer before school, during study hall, and after school for an hour so I help all the teachers. Frau Monroe is your teacher right? She and I are good friends so I can get her to give you a pass." Charles smiled.

Erik checked his watch. He still had thirty minutes of sitting on the hard floor that made his butt hurt and do nothing. Erik stood up and adjusted his black turtleneck sweater.  
"Alright, sounds good."

**A/N: I hope you like this chapter! I'll try to update it frequently! Also I speak German so the story with have some German here and there but I'll always try to translate it in the story or I might put it in brackets or something.**


	3. Peanut Butter and Jelly

**A/N: Thank you everyone for reading, faving or reviewing! I woke up with 17 inbox messages in one night and that made me VERY happy (: This chapter is going to follow Charles more than Erik so enjoy!**

Charles and Erik took their parts of the gigantic book stack and carried them upstairs to Mr. Summers. Charles greatly appreciated Erik helping him; if he hadn't, Charles would have probably be tripped by someone or just trip over himself. He couldn't help but notice that Erik took the heavier books but he was sure that it was on accident. Erik Lensherr wasn't really the _'do-something-nice-to-people-he-didn't-really-like'_ type. But Charles could be wrong.

They reached the classroom and knocked on the door before coming in. Mr. Summers was tall with short, wavy brown hair. For some reason, he always wore they old, 1970s style orange tinted glasses. Even if there wasn't a single ray of sunshine outside or if he was indoors, he'd wear them. Some say it's just to intimidate freshmen. Either that or he's trying to impress Ms. Grey, the tenth grade World History teacher, but that seduction technique doesn't really seem to work since everyone at school knows that she's got the hots for Mr. Howlett.

"Oh, Charles, thank you so much." Mr. Summers got up from his desk and took Charles' stack of books. He smiled and gave Charles a nod. Then his gaze went to Erik, in a confused way, and then realized that Charles surely couldn't bring the pile by himself. Mr. Summers smile faded and he quickly said "You can put them over there." and pointed to the bookshelf. Erik looked to Charles, wondering why Mr. Summers' mood changed so quickly from Charles to him, but let it go and went to put the books away. By the time he finished, Mr. Summers was handing Charles a sheet of paper filled with a hundred little signatures.

"Thanks again, Charles. Are you staying after today?" Charles looked over at Erik and then quickly back to Mr. Summers.  
"No, I can't. Erik and I are going to work on an art project." Charles frowned apologetically. He could felt Erik's look of 'what-the-fuck?' piercing at him. Charles folded up his signed paper and headed out the door with Erik following closely behind.  
"Since when we're we going to work on an art project today?"  
"Since you got detention today and you're going to need a ride home." Charles smiled. Erik looked confused, as normal, and reached for his detention slip in his pocket. It was crumbled up as if an elephant had stepped on it. _How can he live with crumbled papers?_ Charles thought, a twinge of uncomforting pain rushing down his spine. Charles didn't have a lot several pet peeves but crumbled papers were surely one of them.

"Oh, it is for today…" Erik stared at it. _How did he know that?_

"I'm not psychic, Erik, I just know that Frau Monroe doesn't have any plans on Mondays since all her detention days are on Mondays." Charles and Erik were heading down the stairs at this point. "None the less, you still need a car ride. I have a big AP Literature test tomorrow so I can study while I wait. Frau Monroe's detentions only last 'til 5:30 or 6 so I think I can wait in the parking lot. Actually…" Charles checked the calendar of his cell phone, "I have to drive my sister somewhere so I'll do that while I wait."  
Erik was all confused why this. _Was this some kind of charity he's giving me? Is he getting service hours for helping the poor kid? _Erik shook those thoughts from his head. He figured this was just Charles attempt at making a friend. He shouldn't knock the kid for trying since Erik could use a friend. But part of him wasn't sure if befriending the gay kid that everyone made fun of was the best move for his reputation, but then the other half remembered he didn't have a good reputation to begin with.

"Thanks, Charles." Erik gave a half-smile. He felt awkward… _Is this what friendship feels like?_

"Charles, I have a question…" Erik said, looking at Charles.  
Charles felt the tips of his ears going pink again. _Maybe this is when he tells me he loves me, pulls me into a romantic kiss and everyone breaks out into song and dance! _At this point of Charles' imagination, his face was bright pink. _Charles, stop! You don't like him remember? You surely don't love him! You just met him on Friday!_  
Charles managed to get a grip of his mind long enough to meekly answer "Yes, Erik?" He was sure his cheeks were still bright pink but maybe he could just pass it off as a cold.

"How come Mr. Summers was so kind to you but when he saw me his smile went away and looked at me like I didn't exist?" What was Erik thinking? What a weird question to ask Charles. He immediately regretted saying it as soon as it left his mouth.  
Charles, feeling a little depressed that it wasn't the question he imagined even if he was telling himself that he didn't like Erik like that, gave a half-smile and small laugh. "That's because you look like you could key his car or smash out his mirrors."

Erik was taken back a little that Charles had it in him to say that and felt embarrassment. "What's wrong with what I wear?"  
Charles chuckled. "A black turtleneck with dark wash jeans? Plush that leather jacket doesn't help the 'thug' look either." Charles scanned him, looking for something that didn't scream 'I beat up old ladies in dark allies!' but found nothing.

"Sorry I don't wear plaid shirts with light blue sweater vest all the time!" Erik yelled in a joking manner. Come to think of it, Erik probably couldn't afford a single item on Charles' back.

"Well, it's actually baby powder blue but that's beside the point." Erik and Charles both laughed together as Erik rolled his eyes.  
"You know what, you're not that bad, Xavier."  
"That's because I don't dress like you." Charles teased. He was starting to feel more relaxed around Erik which half scared him due to the fact that all Erik's 'friends' were the one that bullied Charles the most.

The end of the block bell rang and soon the hallway was filled with hundreds of students moving like cattle, dazed eyed to their next class. Erik picked up his things from outside Frau Monroe's room and was walking with Charles when someone called form behind them.

"Charles!" They turned around to see a girl with curly blonde hair and a black dress on running to Charles. She ran up and hugged Charles, smiling just as much as Charles does.  
"Raven, what's up with you? I thought we still had that 'no talking during school' policy going on?" Charles asked as he let go of the hug.  
"I know, silly! But I have good news! I don't need a ride form you today!" Raven said jumping up and down slightly.

"Let me guess, you got asked out on a date by-"Charles' monotone question got cut off by Raven's cheerful half yell of "Hank McCoy!". She started to do a happy dance which was giving Erik a headache.

"So you assume that your new date can just give you a ride everywhere now, huh? Raven, I had to promise that I'd be the one to drive you everywhere. Maybe after mom's met the guy then-"

"Ugh! Charles' you're such a killjoy!" Raven stomped away, acting and looking like she was 10 again.

Charles sighed deeply. "That's my adopted sister, Raven. Sometimes I wonder how she made it past the first grade…" Charles started to rub his forehead. _Looks like he has a headache too. _Erik thought to himself.

"I got to go Math, Charles. I'll see ya later." Erik waved goodbye and walked off in the other direction.  
Charles bit down his tongue from saying 'I'll miss you', 'Can't wait!' or even worse: 'Love you!'.

Charles didn't know what has gotten into him. He didn't like Erik like that much he wanted to. _He really wanted to._

Charles' history class went by incredibly fast. He was glad because that means he had lunch now. He grabbed a 5 dollar bill from his backpack and tucked his new book under his arm. Taking his usual table in the corner by himself, Charles took a bite of his mystery meat sandwich that he bought and began to read his book. He was immersed in reading so much that he didn't even notice someone sit in front of him.

"Good book?" the other person said and Charles jumped a foot in his seat. He peeked above the book to see Erik Lensherr grinning like a shark at him. Charles bookmarked his page and tried to calm down from the mini heart attack Erik gave him. Erik laughed as he took a bite of his apple.

"Why are you sitting with me?" Charles asked as Erik raised an eyebrow. "Not that I mind, it's just no one has ever sat with me before." Charles explained quickly, trying not to flush red with embarrassment.

"Well I normally sit with Shaw and them but I don't feel like dealing with them today. Or ever really. They are a bunch of asswipes if you ask me." Erik took another huge gash out of his apple. Charles couldn't help but notice that it was the only thing he had for lunch.

"Are you hungry? You can have my chips if you want. You need to eat." Charles tossed him his bag of BBQ chips. Erik gave him a shocked look.  
"Really? Thanks. But you don't have to worry about me; I've got a mother at home who does that enough. "Erik gave him another shark-like smile.  
_Is Erik now my friend? Do I ask that? No, that's awkward…Maybe I should though…_

Before Charles could ask anything, he felt something soggy hit the back of his head and heard the table behind him laughing. He reached around and brushed off a PB&J that had been smushed against the back of his head. Charles turned around and gave a annoyed look to the laughing group.

"Next time you are going to bully me by throwing food, make it something without peanuts. My mother is highly allergic." He rolled his eyes, turned back to a shocked looking Erik and began to wipe the jelly and peanut-butter from his hair.  
"Why would they do that?" Erik asked, still in shock that Charles was so clam about it.  
"They do it for the same reason that everyone else does it for. And the same reason I always sit alone. Because I'm gay they think that makes me weak. It's okay though, Erik," Charles smiled a little noticing Erik's anger building up. "I know that deep down they aren't going anywhere in life and that's what keeps me sane about it all."

"Thanks a little cynical of you." Erik was surprised that happy-go-lucky Charles Xavier could be capable of saying something harsh. Charles shrugged and continued wiping his hair.  
"I'll go get you some more napkins. " Erik offered and Charles nodded with a smile. It was the least he could do. He knew that his 'friends' had been doing this to him for years and now that Erik was sort of friends with Charles, he felt he was entitled to help him in situations like this.

Erik grabbed a handful of napkins and was about to turn around when he felt something soggy hit the back of his head too. Anger pilled on his face as he removed the soggy sandwich from the back of his head. He turned to face the cackling group of seniors.  
"We don't want the fag's little boyfriend feel left out too!" Some redhead said in a snide tone. The table continued laughing. Erik glanced at Charles who shot him a 'don't-do-this-Erik!' look which Erik ignored.

Erik walked slowly to their table and pounded his fist on the table as hard as he could, almost snapping the wood surface in half. He looked all of them dead in the eyes. "You will not make fun of Charles Xavier or me. If you want to live to see your graduation which will be the only highlight of your sad future, you will not talk, taunt or touch a single hair on his head of I swear to god I will find you." Erik's voice was low and he practically growled out every word. The seniors looked scared shitless and his job was done. He picked up more napkins and headed back to Charles, who was beaming.

"You stood up for me! That's never happened before! Even Raven has never done that!" Charles' smile was back on full drive. "I'm so terribly sorry that they got you involved in this though." Charles looked down in his lap. He felt like he had the touch of death; anyone who befriended him became like him so everyone just ran away.

"Don't be. That's what friends are for right?" Erik smiled and continued wiping the jelly off of his head. Charles beamed with joy. So Erik was his friend. It felt good, having a friend. Charles just wandered how long that would last…

**A/N: Sorry this is slow in parts! I'm trying hard not to just have them jump into friendship or love**


	4. Mustaches and 99 Percents

**A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! My plan is to update everyday so keep posted (:**

The lunch bell rang and the two went their separate ways; Erik had English and Charles had French 6. Both of them found their classes extremely boring as it was their weakest subjects. After an hour and a half of dry English literature and pointless memorization of French conjugation, the bell rang and both Charles and Erik couldn't have bolted out of their classes faster. Fourth block they had art class together, which was a relief.

Charles took his seat next to Erik and greeted him with a friendly smile. He set down his book bag on the opposite side of him and got out his portfolio. There wasn't much in it, besides the mandatory beginning of class 3 posing they had to draw every class. Charles wasn't really into art much; his mother wanted him to take it. It only goes to show how little Mrs. Xavier actually knows about her son since he had no passion for art at all. Erik was in the same boat. While Charles' sketchbook had some fairly good drawlings of a cat playing with a dog, Erik's had a few decent pictures of metal objects. He was good at drawing metal; he actually produced decent shading to make it look real.

The model was positioned in the center of the room and everyone began to draw the three different poses she did. Mr. Howlett gave them five minutes for each pose. Once the drawlings were done, Mr. Howlett cleared his throat to hush the idle chit-chat.

"You all have been assigned a partner for the projects. Please remember that all groups are final and no changes will be made." He shot Erik a dirty look. "You and your partner are to pick one famous artist and write a report about them, give a presentation and draw a portrait of this artist. No one is allowed to use the computer for research." Everyone gave a groan. "That means you have to get off your rich little asses and go to a library. Bonus points if you go to the art museum. This grade will be half your overall grade. Begin." Mr. Howlett took a seat behind his desk and started smoking on a cigar. He was an okay art teacher but he really didn't give a rat's ass about the subject at all.

"Alright, so who are we going to do?" Charles asked, turning his attention to Erik. Erik gave a small chuckle. "What? Oh, come on, Erik! What are you, twelve?" Charles sighed and regained his composure. "Which artist are we going to choose for our project?" Charles reworded himself and gave Erik a stern look.

"Who's the guy with that weird mustache?" Erik did an upward mustache twist with thin air.  
"…Salvador Dali?" Charles asked, confused. Erik nods and the pair laughs. "I'm guessing you did a rather grand job on that test with pictures of famous artists." Charles rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, should we pick him? He was a bit off his rocker, wasn't he?"  
Charles sighed. "Couldn't we pick someone more Renaissance? Like Michelangelo?" HE gives Erik a pleading look.  
"No, we should pick Salva-. " Erik became distracted as Charles turned on him puppy dog eyes on full blast. _You have got to be kidding me! Is he, oh yep, he's pouting too. _Erik felt his heart twist a little. _I never realized how blue his eyes were…they're so bright and clear and….What? Stop, Erik. Focus._

"Please, Erik!" Charles said in between his pout. Erik finally gave in.  
"Fine, we'll pick Michelangelo. "Erik gave a sigh as a now happy Charles began smiling again. Charles was just about to hug Erik when he stopped himself. _What has gotten into me, lately? I need some tea, that's it. Maybe after I drop off Raven I'll have some time to brew up a pot…_

The two of them worked out some of the details of the project; who was writing it, who would edit, who would draw the portrait and etc. They argued back and forth on where to meet and when was a good time.  
"If you stop by my house, my mother is going to say you need to eat more and cook you a feast that we can't afford. Plus her English isn't the best."  
Charles smiled. "Do you both speak German at home?"  
"Jah, Wir sprechen Deutsch und Englisch." Charles smile got even bigger.  
"That's really groovy, Erik." Charles was impressed. _Groovy and attractive…No, not attractive. He's straight and just barely your friend. _Charles pushed that image out of his head quickly.

Erik gave a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. His cheeks flushed a slight pink but Charles didn't notice. He was scribbling furiously into his journal. Erik couldn't help but notice how his floppy hair came down in front of Charles when he wrote. With every jerk of his hand, his hair would bounce ever so slightly. Erik snapped back into reality and started writing something down as well.

Charles gave Erik a quick glance. He had felt his stare on him when he was writing and thanked his baggy hair for covering up his blushing face. Erik was back at writing again so Charles decided to focus on his writing as well. The two continued to work in silence for the rest of class. The air around them had become awkward all of a sudden.

The end of the day bell rang and both of them were relieved to get away from the awkward energy for a bit. Charles shuffled through his backpack to find something while Erik started to walk away. "Erik! Wait!" Charles called out, still looking through his backpack.  
"I have to go to dentition." He pointed his thumb to the doorway. Charles found what he was looking for and tossed him a half of a sandwich. Erik stared at it curiously.  
"I didn't eat the second half of mine at lunch and I figure you'd might want it since dentition is so long and you probably will get hungry so I thought maybe you'd want it." Charles was out of breath when he finished the world biggest run-on sentence. _Why is my brain so scattered today? Right, the tea. I need tea…NOW._

Erik smiled at Charles. "Thanks. I'll meet you outside in the parking lot when it's over, okay?" Charles gave a nod and Erik waved goodbye. He turned and walked out of the door. Charles took a deep breath and left the room as well. Raven was waiting outside the art room, tapping her foot on the floor impatiently. Charles saw her and rolled his eyes. _When did she become such a drama queen?_ He found himself asking as the two walked to their lockers.  
"Sorry to keep you waiting; I was talking to Erik." Charles said, staring intently at his locker and double checking he had all his books.

"Was that the kid you were with earlier today?" Charles gave a nod and shut his locker. "He was pretty cute." Raven gave him a look of 'i-know-you're-into-him'. Charles shook his head furiously and laughed.  
"Sorry to burst your bubble but we are just friends. I only met him officially on Friday." Charles chuckled, looking around to make sure Erik wasn't right behind him or anything.  
A smile curled up on Raven's lips. "That doesn't mean you can't still find him cute." _Good point, Raven…_

"Enough of this nonsense. You have somewhere to go and I need some tea. Are you ready to go?" Charles slid on his jacket and backpack. Raven wasn't paying attention to him and was waving at Hank McCoy form across the hallway. Charles rolled his eyes, tempted to start tapping his foot like Raven had earlier.

"Alright lovebird, let's go." Charles dragged Raven out of the hallway with him and into their car. It was Monday which meant Raven got to pick the music today. To Charles' dismay, her music of choice included British boy bands, hip-hop artists and rappers. Charles could imagine his CDs of Bach and jazz were crying out to him: 'Play me, Charles! Save us from this awful thing they call music!' Charles frowned at the thought. _I'm sorry Bach, I hate this as much as you do but you're going to have to wait until Tuesday._ Charles decided then that focusing on the road should be his first priority, not talking to his CDs.  
Out of nowhere, Raven asked. "You like Erik, don't you, Charles?"  
Charles, nearly chocking on thin air, turned to Raven with a bewildered look. "Why do you keep asking me about him?" Charles untucked his hair from behind his ears to cover his red ears. _Why am I blushing? Christ, where the tea!_

Raven smiled. "It's okay, Charles. You deserve someone." _Wait-was she being nice to me?  
_"Who are you and what have you done to my sister?" Charles asked, confused.

Raven chuckled a bit. "So is that a yes?" Charles couldn't answer her. "So that's a yes. You think he likes you?"

Charles sighed heavily. "That's not a yes. And besides, I'm 99% sure he's straight."  
"So you don't know for sure."  
"I said I'm 99% sure."

"That's not 100% though."

Charles eyed Raven. He was getting annoyed. They pulled up to a red light. This red light was notorious for taking at least five whole minutes before it turned green.

"Remember a few years ago when I started liking that straight guy and I told him I liked him?" Raven nodded. "And then he told the whole school so I came out of the closet and everyone started bullying me? Well, Shaw and Emma Frost and their gang were the ones to start picking on me. Erik is so-so friends with them. If I told him I liked him-if I did-he would probably get freaked out and tell them. That would only give them more encouragement to make my life a living hell." Charles' eyes were beginning to tear up. "I finally have a friend and I don't want that to end just because I may like him."  
Raven frowned and batted back her own tears. She put a finger on Charles' cheek to stop the tears. "I understand. We just want you to be happy, Charles." She gave him a reassuring smile. He sniffled and smiled to, trying to stop his tears.

"Thank you, Raven. I want you to be happy too. You gave get a ride home with hank form now on if you want. I promise I won't tell mother." Charles smiled, his tears beginning to dry up.  
Raven's face lit up. "Really, Charles? That's the awesomest thing you've ever done for me! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She gave Charles a kiss on the cheek. Charles smiled at her.  
"I'm not a professor yet but I'm pretty sure that 'awesomest' isn't a word." He laughed and the light turned green.

"Are you 99% sure?" Raven teased him and Charles lightly punched her arm. After a few minutes of chit-chat about their school day, they arrived at their house. It was a huge stone manor, almost castle like in size. Raven popped out of the car and grabbed her books.  
"Aren't you coming in?" She asked when she noticed Charles was still sitting in the car.  
"Ah, no. I need to get some tea and I promised Erik that I'd give him a ride home." Raven gave him a 'you-go-get-'em-boy!' look with a smile. She closed her door and waved goodbye.

Charles quickly rolled down the passenger side window. "Raven?" He called out loudly.  
Raven turned around with a curios look on her face. "Yes?"  
"I think I like him."  
Raven's confused look was quickly faded behind her gigantic smile.  
"I was 99% sure you did."

**A/N: Sorry this one was shorter than the last chapter. I promise the next one will be the longest chapter yet. (: I hope Raven is true to character here (:**


	5. Tea Time and Sneering Waiters

**A/N: Thank you everyone that reviews and follows and favorites! I'm gonna make this chapter logner so enjoy!**

Charles had just enough time to stop by a little coffee house in town to get a cup of tea. He remember going there a few times with Raven when they were younger; usually to get hot chocolates in the winter time. He sat down in a lounge chair and study for his big test tomorrow and was starting to drift off when someone working there accidently bumped into him.  
'Oh, I'm so sorry! I-Charles? Is that you?" Charles rubbed his eyes and opened them, only to see his 'kind-of-friend' Moira smiling at him. _She works here?_

"You work here?" Charles asked, adjusting himself. He closed his book and sat up straight. It was a dumb question to ask since she was wearing a white apron and a basketball hat with the company's logo on it. But nonetheless, Moira nodded.

"I do! Since last week. Do you normally sleep here?" She asked and Charles replied with a laugh.  
"No, just today. Say, do you know what time it is?"  
"5:45. Why?" Charles stared at her with wide eyes. He had only fifteen minutes to drive all the way across town in rush hour traffic to pick up Erik. If he was late he'd look like a jerk to Erik and Charles didn't want to give him that impression. He bolted up and grabbed his things. Moira stared at him, utterly confused. "I-is there something wrong, Charles?"

Charles by now had his coat and backpack on. "Forgive me, Moira, but I promised I'd pick up a friend from something and I might be terribly late." Charles was half way out of the door. "I talk to you tomorrow in science!"  
Moira just stood there, not sure of exactly what just happened and went back to sweeping the floors.

Charles was in his car in a blink of an eye and pulled out of the parking lot as fast as possible. He saw the line of traffic and groaned. "Erik is going to be so disappointed. What if he thinks I stood him up?" Charles tried to calm himself by listening to music but not even smooth jazz could calm him down. This was a way he could get in Erik's good graces even more. Charles wasn't about to give that up.

Pushing the speed limit as much as he could without crashing into anyone, Charles raced his way through the traffic. It wasn't bumper to bumper, but it was still pretty packed. HE contemplated running but he knew that then they wouldn't have a car anyway and Charles' lack of athleticism wouldn't get him very far. He glanced at the time on the CD player. It was only 5:55. He was close to his exit now. Charles stared down his exit as if it would be closer if he did. He finally got off the main road and was on his way to the school. He looked at the time again. 6:01. "CRAP!" He shouted and surprised himself; Charles wasn't known for vulgar language.

He found Erik sitting on a bench just as he was when Charles picked him up on Friday. He parked at the same spot and got out. He was frowning slightly.  
"Erik, I'm so sorry I'm late! There was horrible traffic and I went as fast as I could-"Charles stopped mid-sentence when he saw that Erik was smiling slightly.  
"Don't worry, I just got out myself. And you're only 4 minutes late. Thanks for offering to give me a lift, Charles." Erik patted Charles on the shoulder and Charles' ears were going pink again. _Looks like the tea didn't help. _

The two got in and an idea popped into Charles' head.  
"Hey, are you hungry? I know I gave you a sandwich but I'm starving myself. Want to grab a bite to eat?" Charles offered, smiling. He was prepared to bring his weapon: puppy dog eyes.

Erik stared at his lap, thinking deeply. "That'd be great; I just don't have the money with me to pay for it." He looked up, ashamed. Here Erik was, sitting in some car that was worth more money than he could imagine which showed Charles could afford anything but Erik couldn't afford to buy a stinking burger.

Charles looked at Erik and gave him a warm smile. "Don't worry. I can pay for you. It'll be my way of thanking you for the helping me with Mr. Summers and my way of paying you back for sticking up for me at lunch. Plus it's the least I can do for being late to pick you up." Charles said, not wanting this opportunity to go to waste. Erik looked up at him to see if he really meant it.  
"You really don't have to-"  
"I _want_ to." Charles said and the two just stared at each other in an awkward but nice silence. After a minute, Erik broke away from the gaze and nodded.

"If you insist." Erik thoughts were flying around. _What was that? Did we just…'eye-fuck'? No, that's weird. He might of, since he's gay. No, Erik, just because he's gay doesn't mean he likes you. But then again, what's not to like about me? Then why doesn't he like me? He really should! Erik, stop, you're not gay, why should it matter if he did or didn't? Maybe you are and you're whole life is a lie? No, that can't be it. I need to stop._

"Everything alright?" Charles couldn't help but notice him deep in thought.  
"Yeah, sorry about that. I guess be quiet and working for Frau Monroe must have done something to my head. I'm not thinking straight." Erik rubbed his forehead.

Charles turned his attention back to the rode and frowned slightly. _Oh, that must be why he agreed to get something to eat with me. He 'isn't thinking straight'. That's what you get for liking a straight guy, Charles. _

The two sat in utter silence for the rest of the ride. Charles, not wanting to break the silence, decided on a little café he's fond of. He knew no one form his school went there so he could spare Erik the embarrassment and explanation as to why they were there together later.

Charles bought a small chicken salad and Erik settled for a burger and soda. The two sat in silence again, once or twice asking how each other's meal was. The waiter comes by with the bill. Erik steals a glance at the price.  
"50 bucks for a salad and burger? Are you kidding me?" Erik roared and Charles quickly signaled for him to lower his voice. The waiter, standing in the back, gave a 'humph' noise and sneered at them.  
"It's okay, that's the normal price." Charles pulled his wallet out of his coat pocket and took out his credit card and left it on the trey for the waiter to take.

Erik eyed the piece of plastic jealously. "You have a credit card?" Even _his mother_ didn't have a credit card. The waiter came by and took the trey, still sneering at Erik.  
"Yes but it's only because my parents travel on business a lot so I have to take care of Raven sometimes." He said, playing with a button on his jacket. The awkward silence fell again. They waited as the waiter brought back the tray and tossed two mints at them. Erik gave him a pissed of look and the waiter just continued to sneer at him like he was a piece of trash. Charles put his card and wallet away and unwrapped the mint. He put the mint in his mouth and stood up, adjusting his coat.

"You ready?" He asked Erik. Erik stood up and straightened his black turtleneck.  
"Yeah." The two walked out and got into the car. Charles decided the silence was annoying him and spoke up.  
"What do your parents do?" Charles asked, staring straight at the road. He hated the silence but he didn't want to be involved in more awkward eye contact.  
Erik cleared his throat. "Well, my _mother _works in a toaster making factory during the day and he works part-time at the Korean grocery store by our apartment at night. That doesn't really work put well since he can barely speak English let alone Korean. But she manages. That's what us people do. We manage."

Charles immediately regretted asking. He could tell that Erik doesn't like to take about it so he decided to change the subject a little.  
"You're mother sounds like a lovely woman." Charles said with a small smile. Erik saw his smile out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help smile a little, only a little, too.  
"Yeah, she's great. You can meet her if you like." Erik said, running a hand through his hair subconsciously.  
_Was he asking me to meet his mother? Like, inside his house? The house that he never lets anyone see? Maybe that's just 'cause I'm a friend now. That has to be it. _Charles shook off the thoughts. He smiled again and said "I'd love to" as pleasantly as he could.

"That reminds me, what do your parents do, Charles?" Erik asked, wondering what job someone must have to earn so much money. Little did he know that this was a sensitive subject for Charles too.

"My dad is a surgeon who is never home. I haven't seen him in person in two years. My mom just travels around with her friends. She was Miss New York one year; she didn't win though. She had a bunch of rich friends with personal jets and they just fly around whenever they feel like it. It's usually just Raven and I home alone with the maids and such. Not really a fun childhood." Charles's face had no smile. Not even a frown. His face was stone hard and blank.

"Trust me, I know all about crappy childhoods. But you have all the wealth you could want! I would be hosting parties like very weekend." Erik said, trying to raise Charles' spirits. A sad Charles was much more painful to watch then an overly happy Charles.  
Charles laughed a little. "To have parties you need friends first." Erik could notice a tear welling up in Charles' eye.  
"…I-I'm your friend, Charles." Erik said with a grin. He thought that'd cheer Charles up but for some reason that made both eyes tear up.

"Thank you, Erik. That means more to me than you'll ever know." Charles was smiling through his tears. _Why did it have to be so hard? Why couldn't Erik just hate him or find him annoying so I could tell myself to get over him. I want to say he's not worth it but… _Charles' tears were falling now. He used one hand to wipe away the falling teardrops. _Stop before he thinks you're just some cry-baby gay guy._

They pulled up to Erik's apartment. Charles had stopped crying by now though his eyes were slightly puffy. They walked up to the second floor, to room 213, which was Erik's apartment. He unlocked the door and walked in with Charles following closely behind.

"Mutti! Ich bin daheim!"Erik called out, setting his backpack on the floor by the door. The apartment was small and narrow with creaky floorboards and peeling paint. Charles was pretty sure he saw a mouse but didn't want to seem like a stuffy old rich person and point it out. A tall women in a grey dress and a red tied headscarf came out form the kitchen.

"Hallo, Erik! Und Fruend?" Ms. Lensherr, as Charles took it to be, gave Erik a big hug and kiss on the forehead. She looked at Charles a gave Erik a surprised look.  
"This boy, does he not eat? We must give you food before you waste away!" Ms. Lensherr grabbed Charles by his wrist and dragged him into the kitchen. She pulled a chair and sat him down and began to grab pots and pans form the wore out cupboards. Charles looked to Erik for help.  
"Mutti, this is my friend, Charles. He's my in my art class. He gave me a ride from…school." Erik didn't want her to know it was detention with Charles around. He knew she would give him a spanking and that's the last thing he wants his new friend to see.

Ms. Lensherr smiled. "Why are you so late home then?" She asked Erik with a thick German accent. Erik sat down next to Charles.  
"We went to get a bite to eat, Ms. Lensherr. I'm sorry we are home so late." Charles chirped in, trying to give a good impression to his mother.  
Ms. Lensherr chuckled a bit. "Oh please, call me Edie. And thank you for feeding my Kleinkind." Edit walked over and gave Erik another tight hug and rustled his hair.

Erik groaned and tried to fix his now messy hair. Charles laughed a little to himself. _So Erik's is protective about his hair. I've got to remember that one. _

"Mutti, I'm not a little child. Anyway, Charles you probably want to head out soon since it's getting pretty dark outside." Erik said, looking out a frosted glass window.  
Charles nodded. "Right, well it was a pleasure to meet you, Edie. I do love your home; it's very beautiful." Charles looked around and smiled her. "I'll see you later, Erik." He buttoned up his coat and stood up. Erik walked him to the door and they waved goodbye. Erik peeked out of the eye hole until he saw Charles' car pull out of the parking lot and his lights faded into the darkness.

He walked back to the kitchen where he saw his mother looking happier than ever.  
"He's a nice boy."  
"Yeah, he is."  
"What was his name again? Charlie?"  
"_Charles._ Charles Xavier."  
"Isn't he that smart rich boy in your school?"  
"Yes, Mutti."  
"He's pretty cute." Erik looked up at his mother when she said that. He looked long and hard at her until he finally caved in.

"Yes, he is, Mutti."

"Do you like him?"  
Erik sighed. "I might. I don't know."

Edie walked over and sat down next to him. Erik's face was hard and he was thinking deeply. She grabbed his hands and held them in hers.  
"I love you no matter what, Erik. I always will. You deserve love." She kissed the top of his forehead.  
For some unexplainable reason, a single tear fell form Erik's eye. Edie gave him a tight hug which Erik responded by hugging her back this time. He cried softly into his mother shoulder. He didn't know why he was crying. He didn't feel sad. Erik just felt…confused.

"Why are you crying, Kleinkind?" Edit asked, pulling away from the hug slightly. Erik sniffled, trying to stop but he couldn't.  
"I-I don't know, Mama. I don't know. I'm…confused" Erik stared at the ground and saw his hot tears splash softly on the broken tile.

Edie smile softly and rubbed the back of his head.  
"They say that's what love feels like."

Charles Xavier pulled up to his house and parked. He grabbed his book bag and got out, walking quickly to the house. Charles wasn't too fond of the darkness. He met the doorman out who opened the door for him. Once Charles was inside he walked upstairs to his bedroom at the end of the hall. Raven's door was open and she was chatting to one of her friends about her day. Charles couldn't help but overhear parts of it.

"Yeah, I called Hank but he said he can't call from the hours of 5-8 because that's his allotted study time. Yeah, I mean he has to keep his grades up. He's got the third highest GPA at the school….Oh no, we can't. He has a science fair to go to. Something about a rocket ship? I dunno-" Raven peered out and saw Charles listening to her phone conversation.  
"Hey, Angel, can I call you later? Alright sounds good. Bye." She put down the phone and turned to Charles.

"Why are you home so late?"  
"Me and Erik got something to eat and then I met his mother." Charles' voice was monotone but Raven was still wide eyed and clapping.

"Oh my gosh! So are you two official or what?"  
Charles let out a half-hearted 'hah' and said "No, he's straight. We didn't talk for much of the night. It's not looking good, Raven." He frowned, a single tear falling from his eye. _Okay, maybe I am the cry-baby gay guy type._

Raven motioned for him to sit down let to him on her bed. She gave him a hug and smiled.  
"If there's anyone that deserves love in this world, it's you. Erik is an idiot if he doesn't see that."  
Charles smiled and blinked rapidly, trying to stop anymore tears.

"Thank you, Raven."

**A/N: Okay this chapter was so painful to write. It's probably very boring and I'm sorry. I tried to make it like 4,000 but I felt that this was the best cut-off. But I did keep my promise cuz it's like 600 words longer than usual! Also I hope I had Hank seem more nerdier at the end! Thanks for reading! New chapter up tomorrow**


	6. Pouring Rain and New Wallpapers

**A/N: Thank you everyone for reading!**

The next Tuesday morning was miserable. It was pouring outside and freezing cold for an October morning. Charles woke up at 6am to shower, dress, and prepare breakfast for himself. After eating his omelet and complaining about the weather to one of the maids, Charles went into the library to study for his big test. His alarm on his phone rang 7:30 after Charles had finished studying and he packed his books away. Charles ran upstairs to make sure Raven was up, which she wasn't but Charles' rapidly knocking did the trick, and he waited for her to dress on the bottom steps, rereading a few of his notes.

"Good morning, sunshine." Raven came walking down the stairs in the most miserable tone. Charles couldn't blame her; rainy school days were no one's favorite.  
"Good morning. Trina made an omelet for you. I'd hurry up before it gets cold. Also, I want to leave a little earlier than normal." Charles said, looking up from his book. Raven had her golden hair down around her neck and was wearing a nice blouse and skirt. Charles looked at his clothes: a button up shirt with khaki pants, a red sweater under his tailor coat and fingerless gloves. _Maybe I need to invest in a more updated wardrobe instead of looking like a senior citizen or a business man all the time…_

He made a mental note to remind himself to bring Raven with him when he went shopping next time.  
"Why do you want to leave earlier?" Raven asked, heading into the kitchen. Charles followed her so he could hear her.  
"It's just, Erik takes a bus and I'd hate to have to force him to wait in the rain. I didn't see and umbrella at his house or rain boots and we all know he's just gonna wear that leather jacket again. I just thought we'd be nice and offer him a ride." Charles said, playing with a loose strand of fiber form his gloves, trying not to look at Raven for any judgment.

He could feel Raven smiling at him so he decided to look up. She was grinning like crazy.  
"Charles, you are the sweetest person ever. I wish Hank would do that for me but he's too busy working with NASA and building rocket ships." Charles detected a tone of irritability in his voice.  
" Oh, I'm sorry, Raven. Maybe he'll be free on the weekend and you two can go see a movie." Charles suggested. He really didn't know what people his age do on dates since, well; _he's never been on a date before. _

"Maybe. Sorry, we were talking about you and Erik. I'm done with my omelet so we should head out now. "Raven put her empty plate in the sink and turned to Charles.  
"Raven, do I look…_good_? Like, I don't look stupid or anything, right?" Charles asked, staring at the ground. _Since when did I care about how I looked? Oh right, since I met Erik. Damn him._

Raven scanned over his outfit and bit her lip. "You look like…you. You look like Charles Xavier, the smartest kid in our whole school. Since when did you care about your looks? You are getting more like me every day." That last sentence had Charles shiver.  
"Well I certainly don't need your GPA, thank you very much. And I don't want to look like the school nerd. I just-"Charles sighed. Raven gave him a half-smile, ignoring his diss on her GPA.

"We need to go or we'll be late. And if you changed wardrobes all of a sudden it'll look obvious, don't you think? Come on, let's go." Nearly dragging Charles outside, the two shared an umbrella and walked to their car. Charles opened Raven's door and then quickly hurried to his side.  
"Raven, could you sit in the back? It's just, I don't want-"  
"Ugh, really? Fine, if it's for your lack of a love life, anything." Raven hopped out of her side and jumped into the back seat. "Maybe I should sit behind you so I can kick you if you say anything dumb…which is bound to happen."

"I think I can handle this one, Raven. You know how to read body language right?" Charles asked, pulling out of the driveway.  
"I learned about it in a class and got an A on the test so I think I can read it pretty well."  
"Well, can you read his and see if there's anything you can get from it? I'm going to need all the help with this if I'm going to seduce a straight guy." Charles, remembering it was his turn for the music selection, put in his favorite CD of classical music. Raven groaned form the backseat.  
"He's gonna think you're even more of an old fart, Charles." Charles eyed her from the mirror.

"I'm not going to lie about who I am to him. If he's gonna like, it's gonna be the 'classical-music-listening' Charles. Besides this is my favorite CD." Charles gave her a sassy look from the mirror. Raven rolled her eyes and began to stare out the window.

They reached Erik's apartment just in time. He still hadn't left his apartment for the bus stop. The bus stop was about two blocks away which was ridiculous to walk to in the rain. After a few minutes of waiting, Charles stopped Erik in the lobby from the glass doors, eyeing their car with a confused look. Charles took the umbrella and opened his door. He got out and waved to Erik from under his umbrella. He quickly ran up to the door and smiled. Erik pushed opened the door just enough so that Erik was still inside but Charles could talk to him.

"What in the world are you doing here?" Erik asked, staring at Charles and the car with his sister Raven in it.  
"Since it was raining really badly we thought you'd might fancy a ride since you bus spot is terribly far away." Charles smiled brightly. Maybe his smile would win him over.  
"Uh, that'd be great." Erik tried to match Charles' smile but it ended up looking like a shark and terrify so Erik stopped.  
"Here," Charles handed him the umbrella. "You can have it." Charles turned to walk into the rain when Erik grabbed the sleeve of his jacket.

"We can share." Erik gave a small grin and Charles smiled back. The two walked back to Charles' car, compressed close to each other to make sure they both fit under the tiny umbrella. Erik held on to the handle and Charles kept his hands at his sides. Erik walked them over to Charles' door and opened it for him, making sure he was fully dry. Erik then ran over to his side and opened the door, closing the umbrella from outside.

Charles' car was warm compared to the freezing cold rain outside. Erik could hear classical music softly playing in the background. He waved and exchanged 'hello's and 'how are you?'s with Raven.  
Charles looked at Raven from the mirror again and saw her give him a tiny thumbs up for good luck.

"So Erik, what classes do you have today?" Charles decided to start the small talk.  
"Um, I've got history then study hall. Then lunch. After lunch I have Tech Ed and chemistry. " Erik said, running through his schedule in his head. "How about yourself?" Erik turned his head so he was looking at Charles.

"I have AP Literature, then Calculus AB, lunch, then AP Chemistry and AP Biology after that." Charles said meekly, feeling like the ultimate nerd he was. Erik stared his with his jaw dropped slightly.  
"That's really amazing, Charles. I knew you were smart but wow! Aren't most of those classes for seniors?" Erik asked. It wasn't until after he asked that he noticed he had put his hand on Charles' arm in admiration. Before he thought Charles would notice, Erik quickly removed his hand and kept it in his lap. _What was that? Gott Verdammt, Erik!_ _Don't screw this up._

"I took the finals for the classes in the summer passed them so I could move up. It really is a pain though because I'm stuck with a bunch of seniors. I do have a class with Moira so that's nice atleast…"

"Say, Charles, you want to sit together at lunch today?" Erik asked, knowing the answer would be yes since he had no one else to sit with.  
Charles smiled again. Erik felt his knees tremble slightly.  
"I would love to! I just hope you don't get hit again with any other various food item. It's kinda the curse of sitting with me." Charles frowned.

"I think I can handle it. Besides, don't I look like a thug? Like I could 'key someone's car and bash the mirrors'?" Erik teased.  
"Well, you do! I'm sorry, my friend, the truth hurts." Charles smiled, joking back with him. Erik smiled too.  
"Alright, Einstein. How's M-theory working out?"  
Charles pretended to push his invisible glasses up the ridge of his nose. "Fantastic, thank you, Mr. Godfather." The two laughed while Charles pulled up to the school parking lot.

"You two are the biggest weirdoes I've ever met." Raven said form the back seat, ending their laughing session.  
They pulled into Charles' parking spot which was close to the doors. Erik took the umbrella and opened Raven's door and handed her the umbrella.  
"You two can share if you'd like. "Charles said getting his backpack form the back seat.  
Erik shook his head. "I'll be fine. Raven you can take it." Erik took out his backpack as well. The rain had made his perfectly fixed hair soggy and wet. Irritably, Erik tried fixing it but gave up all attempts of saving it. Charles and Erik ran inside while Raven met up with a friend in the parking lot and walked away with them.

Inside, the two walked to their lockers which were surprisingly close for two people with a 'L' last name and a 'X' last name. Erik shuffled his wet books and binder into his locker and got the books he needed for the day. Charles did the same except in the middle of reorganizing his locker, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He flipped it open and saw 3 new picture messages from Raven. With an eyebrow raised, he opened the first open. The first was a picture of Charles and Erik walking from Erik's apartment to Charles' car. They were both walking close together and smiling. _How did she get this picture? _Charles then opened the next one. This one made Charles blush rapidly. It was a picture of Charles and Erik talking but for some reason Erik's hand was on Charles' arm and he was smiling and looking right at Charles' eyes. _When was this? Was I having an out of body experience or what?_

The last picture was when the two were laughing as they pulled in. Charles really liked this one and decided to be bold and make it his wallpaper.

Just as he was smiling at the new wallpaper, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"What are you smiling at?" He slammed his phone shut and turned to see a confused looking Erik standing over top of him.  
"Oh, nothing, just a text form my mother. She's in Peru. Says it's lovely there." Charles lied quickly and Erik seemed to buy it.

"Oh that's cool. Hey, I got to go to History. I'll see you at lunch, okay?" Erik waved goodbye and disappeared into the stream of people walking. Like clockwork, Raven appeared in front of Charles when Erik left.

"You like the pictures?" Raven smiled, poking Charles' stomach.

"Yes, thank you, Raven. How did you manage to get those?" Charles asked, closing his locker door.  
Raven shrugged. "I have a gift. I'm just dark and mysterious, I guess." He gave her a funny look and Raven laughed. "Okay maybe not, but regardless, I was watching his body language and…."

"And…?"  
"I think he might be interested in you! I'm not sure but the how hand on your arm and he was staring at you the whole time makes me wonder that maybe he isn't straight."  
"Maybe he isn't straight? Really, you think so?" Charles whispered to her, a smile growing on his face.

"Hey, I'm no genius but that's just my observations. But I wouldn't go running to him and confessing your love to him just yet. Wait to see how things pan out. I'll try to watch again for you at lunch since Hank's got to tutor some senior on physics." Raven went from smiling to grouchy and crossed her arms across her chest.

The two minute bell rung and Charles gave his sister a hug. "Thank you, Raven. You are a life saver."  
Raven rolled her eyes. "I know, I know. Now get going."

**A/N: This one was shorter sorry :/ I REALLY hope Erik and Charles aren't out of character because I'm really trying not to rush things here. Thank you for readings and reviews are always welcomed (: New chapter up tomorrow and I'll try to make it long and probably more form Erik's view of things. **

**As soon as I uploaded this it started to pour like crazy where I live . IT'S A SIGN!**


	7. Animal Kingdom and Ranch Dressing

**A/N: Thanks for reading!**

Lunch couldn't have come soon for Erik or Charles. The two met in the hallway and walked together, talking about how their morning classes were. Erik could feel Shaw eyeing him in the hallway. He tried to ignore this and focus on Charles. Charles was chatting happily about how easy his Literature test was and ran a hand through his wavy brown hair. Erik clenched his hands into fists, fighting back the urge to run his hand through Charles' hair as well.

"Erik…?" Charles asked, staring at him. Erik snapped back to reality and realized he hadn't been really listening to Charles this whole time.  
"Uh-what was that?" Erik decided that he'd get too distracted if he stared at Charles so he picked a spot on the ground and followed it intently with his eyes.

"I ask you if your mother liked me." Charles' voice was timid, trying not to sound too obvious. He really just wanted to know if they had talked about Charles at all after he left.

"Oh, yeah. She thinks you're great!" Erik smiled, trying to force the image of him crying onto his mother's shoulder, talking about feelings. Charles certainly didn't need to know that any of that happened.  
The two were now seated at their empty table. Charles had a salad for lunch and Erik had the usual apple. Charles dug into his lunch bag and gave Erik is chips and drink. They were talking about the weather when they noticed someone had sat down next to them.  
"Hey, we thought we'd sit with you guys today!" Raven said cheerfully and pointed to the tall boy sitting across from her (next to Erik) with thick glasses.  
"This is Hank, everyone. Hank, this is Charles and his boy-I mean, best friend, Erik." Raven laughed nervously and Charles shot her a look of dread but Erik didn't seem to notice. He just sat there looking angry and frustrated.

"It's nice to meet you." Hank said timidly, nodding at Erik and Charles.  
"I thought Raven said you had tutoring or something?" Charles asked, picking at his salad. He glanced at Erik who was still looking angry.  
"Oh, I found time during study hall to help them so my lunch schedule was free." Hank smiled, adjusting his glasses. Raven smiled at him and started to eat her sandwich. After a few bites, something greasy from the sauce spilled on her skirt. Frustrated, her and Hank went to go get napkins, leaving Erik and alone with Charles.

Erik was the first to speak up. "So, when are we going to get together to work on the art project?"  
Charles looked up thoughtfully, running thru his schedule. "I'm free whenever you are. We can head to the library after school, the art museum too one day, and then we could grab and bite to eat-if you want to that is."  
"Yes, that'd be perfect. Are you free today?" Erik had to restrain himself form jumping. _Why am I so excited? I need to calm down. I just need to be with him alone to see if I really do…like him._

Charles smiled brightly. "I'll just tell Ms. Grey that I can't help today. I'll just get the work down in study hall to make for it. Your mother won't mind if I buy you dinner again, will she?"  
_He's making it sound like a date. Maybe he wants it to be…No, Erik. That's probably not true. But he sounds like he's my boyfriend; buying my dinner and all that. I could get use to calling him that…._

"Are you sure you're alright, Erik? You kept zoning out on me…." Charles asked, looking slightly insulted.

Erik snapped back again and gave Charles a half-hearted smile.  
"Yeah, just a lot on my mind." Erik didn't get much sleep last night due to a lot being on his mind. Charles smiled and said "Okay" and went back to his salad.

Just when everything seemed to be slightly better, Shaw had to walk over to ruin everything. Erik kept his hands in his lap, knowing that if he got detention again he couldn't spend time with Charles. Shaw, looking smug, stood next to Charles.  
"Well, if it isn't the fag and his friend. So glad to see you can actually make a friend, Charlie." Shaw rustled the top of Charles' head, messing up his perfectly neat hair. Charles paid no attention and went back to nibbling on his salad.

"His name is Charles, Shaw. Don't you have someone else to pick on? Besides, I bet you're just angry that you couldn't score with Emma." Erik's tone was strong and stern which made him look more like a thug. Shaw seemed to note the irritation in Erik's voice.  
"Oh, didn't know you had feeling for him. My bad, Erik." Shaw eyed Erik and knew he hit the sensitive spot. Erik's eyes narrowed.

"Leave him out of this, Shaw. You have a problem with me, not him." Charles looked form Erik to Shaw and a thought came to him. _This is like watching the Animal Kingdom; two adult lions are fighting over a piece of meat .I guess I'm the meat then._

Raven and Hank were back now, awkwardly standing to the side of the two angry lions. Raven's eyes were glued to Erik, watching his body language like a hawk.  
"So you're not denying those feelings for him then…?"  
"Shut up, Shaw. I said to leave him out of this." Erik was standing up now too, his height towering over Shaw.

Shaw, being the jackass he is, smirked and moved closer to Charles. "I'll take that as a yes." He had his hand on Charles' shoulder. Erik flinched with rage.  
"Don't. Touch. Him." Erik's fists were clenched, ready to punch the lights out of Shaw. Shaw wanted to push Erik's buttons even more. He took the salad Charles was slowly eating and dumped it on Charles' head, the dressing pouring all over him. Erik fists were up and he was about to knock Shaw when Hank and Raven grabbed him to stop him. Shaw just laughed and strolled away, flicking off Erik as he walked. Erik was fuming with rage at this point and when he finally calmed down slightly, he looked at the ranch covered Charles. His lower lip was quivering slightly and he was trying to beat back the tears.

"C-Charles, are you alri-?" Erik asked, walking over to him. Charles shook his head and got up, walking quickly to the bathroom. He could hear people laughing at him and figured they were pointing as well.  
"I hope he's okay…" Raven said with a frown. Erik stood in shock. _Why didn't I punch Shaw sooner? How could I have let him do that…?_

Erik was walking quickly, also in a sprint, to the bathroom. He walked into the empty bathroom, only to hear a muffled crying from a stall at the end. He knocked softly and whispered "Charles?"

"Go away, Erik. I'm not in the mood to talk." Charles murmured, sniffling.  
"Too bad, I want to talk to you. I brought you some napkins on my way out. Let me help you, Charles." Silence fell. After a minute of quiet, Charles opened the stall door. The ranch dressing was running all down his face, mixed with his tears, and down his neck. Erik frowned and plucked a tomato off the top of Charles' head. With a napkin he wiped the white sauce off of Charles' face. A small smile rested on Erik's face; he enjoyed taking care of Charles. He just wished it wasn't because a bully dumped salad on him at lunch.

Erik finished wiping Charles' hair and neck.  
"It's stained your shirt." Erik said and Charles nodded. He had stopped crying but was still sniffling.  
Erik took off his tan jacket and untucked his navy blue turtleneck from his pants.  
"W-What are you doing?" Charles asked, raising his eyebrow.  
"Take my sweater. It's dry. I have a wife beater underneath that I'll just wear with my jacket." Erik grinned and proceeded to strip off his turtleneck. He tossed it to Erik and put his tan jacket back on. Charles stared at him, admiring how toned Erik was. With a light shade of pink blush across his face, Charles stared back at the shirt in his hands.  
"C-Can you leave? I'm not comfortable changing in front of people…" Charles squirmed awkwardly.

"How do I know you won't just lock me out again?" Erik questioned him.  
Charles smiled. I wouldn't really have anywhere to go, now would I?" With that Charles shooed him out and changed shirts. The sweater was huge on Charles. He rolled up the sleeves three times and tucked the back into his pants. He unlocked the stall door and greeted Erik with a smile.  
"Thank you for the help, Erik. You really are a true friend." Charles smiled and messed with his damp hair, trying to fix it back into place.

"You're welcome, Charles. Now, I think the bell is about to ring. You want me to walk with you to your science class?" Erik offered as they stepped out of the bathroom.  
"Won't you be late to your class?"  
"Eh, it's okay. My teacher's pretty cool." Erik shrugged, walking with Charles to his science class. Once they were outside the AP Chemistry room, Charles turned to Erik and smiled.  
"Thank you again. It means a lot to me, Erik." Charles' voice was soft and meaningful.

Erik blushed slightly, not enough for Charles to see luckily. "You're welcome. I'll see you by your locker after school." Erik smiled and turned to walk away.

Charles sat down in class and adjusted the collar on Erik's turtleneck. He couldn't help but notice that it smells like Erik; musty and strong but also like Germany (if Charles had ever been to Germany himself, he expected it to smell like this). Charles found it hard to focus on Chemistry while sniffing the sleeve the entire class.

**A/N: Sorry this was so sort :/ My dad was breathing down my neck while I wrote the whole thing so I mentally couldn't write much. BUT I have a solution: I'm going to update later tonight! And except a longer chapter tomorrow too (: Thank you for reading!  
**


	8. Red Stamps and French Food

**A/N: So sorry that the last one was rather short! I'm gonna try to make this one longer and I promise the next chapter will be full of surprises and Cherik goodness (:  
**

Charles' afternoon classes couldn't have taken any longer. Wrapped up in Erik's warm turtleneck, Charles could barely focus on the test reviews in Chemistry and Biology. Even Moira noticed he was zoning out and asked him about it after class.  
"New shirt or something?" She asked, shuffling her textbooks into her bag once the bell rang. Charles, realizing Moira was talking to him, stared at her in confusion for a second.

"Oh this? No, it's Erik's. I'm borrowing it for the day." Charles stood up too, slipping his backpack on. Moira looked perplexed but decided not to question him further.  
"Oh, cute." The two walked out of the Biology room and walked to their lockers together.  
Charles laughed lightly. "It's not like that. I got 'ranched' at lunch by Shaw so Erik let me borrow his shirt."

Moira smiled. "Still, it's cute. I didn't know you two were that close."

"Yeah, we kinda are. It's nice, having a friend who's a guy that actually wants to be your friend. "Charles smiled at the thought of him and Erik being friends for forever.  
"I guess the fact that you like him also helps." Moira teased.

"Wait, how did you kno-"Charles was shocked. Was it obvious?

"I have my ways. Besides, lover boy's walking this way now. I'll leave you two alone. See ya!" Moira waved goodbye and headed to her own locker. _Moira should really be a secret agent when she grows up…she finds a way to get any information she wants…_

"You ready to get started on the project?" Erik came up behind Charles, smiling.  
_That tan jacket looks really good on him…Does he look good in everything he wears? _Charles tried to focus on Erik's face but found that too distracting and good-looking, so he settled for the space just above Erik's head. He smiled.

"Oh, right. Raven is getting a ride with her boyfriend so it'll be just us two. We can head straight to the library too. And after we can go get a bite to eat, my treat!" Charles beamed at Erik, or the space above his head.

"Alright, sounds good. But must you pay for everything? You have to let me repay you for some of it." Erik pleaded. Suddenly, a million thoughts pooped into Charles' head of how Erik could repay him but most of those included a date, kissing, holding hands and other things that would only happen in a relationship and in Charles' fantasy land.

"Let's just get the project over with and then I'll think of something."

Erik smiled with a sharky grin. _Is he flirting with me? Come on now, Charles, you're making this too hard for me. _Erik's thoughts were filled with himself repaying Charles by a date or a kiss and it was then when he realized: _he had feelings for Charles Xavier_. Erik could imagine a big stamp across his forehead with the words **GAY FOR CHARLES XAVIER **bolded out in bright red letters. Erik wasn't sure if he was gay or bi or asexual or whatever type of thing there was in the world but looking at Charles in his huge navy blue turtle neck made Erik sure of one thing and one thing only: _He wanted Charles_.

Charles and Erik were in Charles' car now and the air was silenced and awkward again. Erik tried not to look at Charles. He tried to focus on the lightly raining sky or the traffic but found nothing that struck his interest that wasn't Charles. Erik wished he'd put on some music but didn't want to break the silence by asking.

When they finally reached the library, barely anyone was there. A few single persons were sitting spread out, reading peacefully. Luckily the art section was empty and quiet. Charles set down his book bag on a table and Erik followed suit. Charles then took out a paper with the rubric for the assignment printed on it. Erik stood next to him and pretending to read it but in reality was staring at the back of Charles' neck. He noticed there was a small tiny freckle on the right side of his next and wondered if Charles had freckles all over his body.

"I'll try to find books over here. There's a section on the bookshelf behind us on the renaissance. Do you mind looking there for something? Thanks." Charles set the paper down on the table and began scanning the shelves. Erik did the same on the other bookshelf. There were some thick leather bound books on Erik's shelf and some books that looked like nothing but pictures. The idea was funny to Erik until he realized it _was_ _an art section_.

Erik could faintly hear a muffled grunt from behind him. He glanced to see Charles on the tips of his toes, trying to reach a book on the top shelf. He walked over quietly, put one hand on Charles' shoulder and the other grabbed the book form the top shelf. Charles and Erik had locked eye contact the whole time and Erik brought the book down and handed it gently to Charles, not breaking the eye contact. Charles was the one to break it; his eyes now looking at Erik's hand which had slipped off Charles' shoulder and was now around his waist.

"E-Erik…Your hand." Charles was a pleasant shade of bright red now and was squirming in place. Erik followed Charles' eyes and realized his hand was around the other man's waist and removed it. He didn't back up through and the two remained just inches away from the other's face. Erik could even feel Charles' breathe tickling his neck.

"I think I found something you might be interested in." Erik said finally, stepping back and walking over to his book shelf. Erik pulled one of the leather-bound books and a thick book of pictures. He set them on the table and slid them to Charles.

"Wow, this looks great. Thank you, Erik." was all Charles could manage after the whole book shelf ordeal. Charles quickly got down to work, taking notes while he sent Erik to get move books. Once they had finished, they had 7 books to check out and 5 books on hold.

At the self-check-out, Erik broke the silence. "IS this how your normal library trips go? A huge stack of books that you can barely carry?"  
Charles smiled at him. "Yes and no. I normally get a lot of books but if you think I'm carrying these to the car then you're nuts! That's why you're here!" Charles put his library card back into his wallet and headed out the door, leaving Erik with the gigantic pile of reading material. Erik laughed to himself, remembering that this was how they first had become friends; Erik carried a huge pile of books for Charles.

Once Erik had put away the books into the backseat of the car, the pair sat in silence for a few seconds before Charles chirped in.  
"So do you want to go to the art museum today or what?"  
Erik sighed. "I'm kind wore out form that trip. And I didn't even do much really. Maybe we could go grab a bite to eat."

Charles thought about it for a second before he nodded. "We're pretty close to my house so we could always stop by and I could change and give you your shirt back. You can see my house, if you'd like."  
Erik smiled. "You sure I won't get lost in your mansion house?"  
"I promise."

The restaurant Charles picked was a fancy little French place just a short drive from Charles' house. The sign outside was large with a cursive font writing out 'Bonne Nourriture et Boissons'. Charles latter translated it as 'Good Food and Drink' which sounded a little corny to Erik.  
Erik's thoughts changed when they walked inside. The restaurant was large with cushiony chairs and dark maple table tops. There was a bar in the back and from what Erik could tell, this restaurant must have been at least four stars.

"Don't worry about price. Things here tend to be a little ridiculous but the food is delicious. And it's my treat!" Charles warned Erik before he opened his menu. Needless to say, Erik had a mini heart attack when he saw the cheapest item was $60. He felt horrible for making Charles pay but after a few minutes of arguing, he remembered that it was either let Charles pay or leave before the drinks came. Erik knew he couldn't even afford his drink. He settled down and chose the cheapest thing he could find, which was some fancy sounding dish with a French name he couldn't pronounce. Erik felt a little embarrassed and had to show Charles his menu and point to it before the waitress could understand what he wanted. Erik had to admit that Charles sounded very cute when he spoke French, though he would never tell him.

Charles wouldn't let Erik see the bill so Erik couldn't get angry about the price. Charles and Erik left the fancy place and got back into Charles' car. The rain had cleared up and the sun was peeking through the clouds.  
"Look!" Charles pointed somewhere in the sky. "A rainbow!"  
Erik tried to hold all comments on sexuality aside and just seem genuinely excited about a prism of light but the mustered excitement wasn't enough. He just said a dry "Cool" and was silent again.

They arrived at the Xavier household in a few minutes. It was bigger than Erik imagined which was impressive because he imagined it fairly large. They parked the car and walked up the huge steps and met the doorman outside.  
"We have a visitor today." Charles said with a grin, pointing to Erik. The doorman nodded and let them in. The inside surprised Erik just as much as the outside. It really was like a castle, hidden away from the city. Charles set down his backpack and brought Erik upstairs so he could put the library books down. Charles' room was large and tidy with a bookshelf that covered the whole wall. He had nearly a thousand on the shelves with a couple just lying around from idle readings. He's bed way made but it was obvious that he did it himself and not the maids.

"Your room's pretty cool. I can tell you like reading." Erik teased. Charles pointed to his oak desk for Erik to put the books on.  
"You think this is a lot? You should see our library. It's the size of the public one. I just like getting out and going there sometimes. I really could survive in here if I wanted to." Charles laughed to himself. There was a knock on the door and a curious Raven called out from behind it.  
"Who are you talking to, Charles?" Raven opened the door to see Erik and her eyes widened.  
"Oh, Hiya, Erik. My bad, I just thought you were going mad, Charles. I'll be next door if you need me." Raven waved goodbye and closed the door as quickly as she had opened it. Charles and Erik exchanged a look and laughed together.

"I got to go to the bathroom, Erik. Excuse me." Charles walked out and down the hall. Erik was idly scanned the shelves of Charles when he heard someone come in. He turned around, expecting Charles, and was a little disappointed to see Raven.  
"Is there something I can do for you, Raven?" Erik asked, putting his hands in his pockets.  
"Yeah. I want you to ask my brother out. I know you want to." Raven said, crossing her arms over her chest. Erik flinched slightly but didn't let it faze him. _Maybe she's just lying and seeing if I say 'How did you know?' or something to verify her accusation. Play it cool, Erik. Stay calm._

Erik smiled and laughed slightly. "What in the world are you talking about?"  
"Look, I've got Charles locked up in a broom closet so we are free to talk. I've been reading your body language all day. You like him and I know it. You even gave him your shirt, for crying out loud! My brother deserves happiness and you are going to give it to him! That's what he wants!" Raven growled at him, sticking one finger out at him and poking his chest.  
_Wait-that's what he wants? _"That's what he wants?"

Raven sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yes! Man, you are dense! He doesn't know I told you anything but I want you to surprise him. Here, you can use this to pay for the dinner and movie. He doesn't like scary movies but there's some film called 'Prometheus' that he's been dying to go to for some reason so take him. I'll have Hank give you a ride there and we'll just have Charles meet you at the dinner. You got something other than a turtleneck to wear?"

Erik took a step back with his hands up like he was being arrested. "Whoa, how do I know I can trust you? What if he doesn't really like me and you're just plotting my downfall?"

Raven was tapping her foot on the ground now with one hip cocked to the side. "I wouldn't be handing you a hundred bucks just for your downfall. Now he's gonna wake up any second now so just do what I saw and everyone lives, got it?" Raven's gaze was sharp, like a secret weapon she hides behind her pretty face. Erik nodded, not wanting to think about how Raven knocked Charles out or what with, and tucked the money in his back pocket.

So he and Charles were going to go on a date. Erik's feelings were mixed between throwing up and dancing with joy, so he just settled on a painful looking smile for the time being.

**A/N: Sorry for that tiny chapter earlier! I hope this makes up for it! Next chapter is the date so YAY! I really wanted to show sassy protective sister Raven so here ya go! Also thank you for the LOVELY reviews! They make my day when I get any type of feedback so thank you! Also, I hope the French was okay. I had to use Goggle translate so sorry for the corny title! . New (LONG, maybe 4,000 words) chapter up tomorrow!**


	9. Everyone Smells and Jealous Robots

**A/N: Alright here's the big chapter! I'm so excited to start writing this! I'd like to thank 2badass4you and Hinatasara (Sarah) for reviewing every single chapter! It means so much to me that you like my story! (Side note: I actually am a published author. I have a short story published in a book (: ) I'm shooting for 4,000 words so wish me luck!**

The rest of the week flew by quickly. Raven and Erik settled on Friday night for the date so in the meantime, Charles and Erik met to work on their project. On Wednesday they toured the art museum which was empty except for the museum guards who took a break every 10 minutes to fetch a doughnut from the backroom. Charles seemed to have a real interest in the art and was explaining the piece and the artist biography to Erik as they looked at each painting.

Thursday was spent at Charles' house. They worked on the portrait of Michelangelo and they finished the PowerPoint for their presentation. Charles had already finished the 8 page essay on Michelangelo and his works. They spent the rest of the afternoon in Charles' room, talking about school and anything that came to mind.  
"Well, what are we going to do tomorrow? I think we're done really." Charles asked, toying with his shirt cuff.  
"I have plans actually. I've got to help our neighbors with their radiator. It's broken and I promised I'd fix it. Sorry." Erik lied, giving a small frown. Charles sighed and shrugged.  
"Oh, that's alright. I have some research wanted to get done so I'll just do that." Erik could feel the disappointment in Charles' voice. _It's alright, Charles. You won't be disappointed for long. _Erik thought to himself.

"If you'll excuse me, I've got to go to the bathroom." Erik stood up, and pointed to the door. Charles nodded and Erik walked out. He met Raven at the bottom steps of the stairs.  
"Have you asked him out yet?" She asked, whispering.

Erik shook his head. "I told him I have plans. I want to surprise him. Could you convince him to take you to some restaurant? Have him dress nicely; not too formal though. You can drive home with Hank once I meet him there. What do I bring? Flowers?"  
Raven gave him a disgusted look. "No, He's not a girl!"

"Sorry, I've never gone on a date with a dude before. Usually I bring flowers for the girl. Sorry." Erik put his hands up like he was being arrested. He seems to do that a lot when Raven's around. She's pretty edgy and strict for a younger sister.

"Just stay close to him. He likes that. He really does like you; I've read his diary journal thing. It's full of you so don't worry about overdoing. If he comes home upset or anything less than happy I will personally kill you. Got it?" Raven threatened and Erik got the picture.  
"Trust me; he'll be coming home more than happy." Erik winked and Raven had that disgusted look again.

"Too much information! I don't need those thoughts in my head!" Raven covered her ears and was going 'la la la la la' to block Erik's voice out of her head. Erik laughed and headed back upstairs, hoping Charles didn't think he feel in or something.

Charles was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling when Erik walked in.  
"What took you so long?" Charles asked, propping himself up with his elbows. Erik smiled.  
"I got lost. This place is still a maze to me." He walked over and sat down next to Charles, their legs brushing slightly.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Charles jumped up and ran to his closet. He pulled out a navy blue turtleneck that looked freshly ironed and washed. "I never did give this back to you, Erik. My apologizes."

Erik took the turtleneck and folded it. "No worries. I had forgotten about this thing myself. Thank you for washing it. You really didn't have to."  
Charles smiled. "No, I wanted to make sure I got all the 'Charles smell' off of it so it was purely 'Erik scented' from now on." Erik looked up at him with a quizzical look on his face.

"I have a scent?" He was smiling, waiting for Charles to explain. Charles felt his face go pink.  
"Well, yes. I mean-everyone has a scent. I do, but I bet I just smell like books. Raven has a girly scent to her; yours is musky. Everyone smells." Charles was talking quickly now and his face was hot with embarrassment. _Did I really just tell him that he has a scent? Now he knows I've been sniffing his sweater the how time. Damn it, Charles!_

"Everyone smells? You are an odd one, Xavier." Erik smiled with a sharky grin and drew him attention back to the shirt he was folding. Before Charles could further embarrass himself, he sat down next to Erik and switched the topic to midterms which were a good two months away.

Charles gave Erik a ride home. Once they got to this apartment, Erik waved goodbye and headed up the stairs. He came home to his mother cleaning the home and singing old folk songs she grew up on. She heard him close the close and set down his cleaning supplies to hug him.  
"How was school, Kleinkind?" Edie said, breaking away from the hug to kiss his forehead.  
"Gut, gut. I have a date for tomorrow." Erik sat down at the kitchen table putting his backpack on the table in front of him. Edie gasped and put her hand on her heart.  
"With who?"  
Erik gave her a warm smile before saying "Charles Xavier."

Edie smiled the biggest smile Erik had seen her have in a while. "Really? Oh Erik, that's wunderbar! I am so happy for you! Tell me all about it!" Edie sat down in the chair next to him and held his hand, stroking it to show affection. Erik told her the plan in detail.  
"What will you wear? You can't just show up in anything! This is important!" Edie said with a worried look.

"I'm gonna wear a button down shirt and nice pants. Raven, Charles' sister, bought them for me so I have no choice. I'm gonna wear my leather jacket so I don't look too formal. We are going to the movies." Erik said, running a hand through his hair. He then took Edie's small and fragile hand and held it with both of his hands. "Don't worry, Mutti. I will be a good date. I want you to have this too." Erik reached into his pocket and gave her a twenty dollar bill.

"Erik, where did you get this from?"  
"Don't worry, Mutti. Raven gave me hundred dollars to take Charles out but I want to use some of the money I earned from working this summer so I don't feel like a total jerk. I tried to give her some of the money back but she wouldn't take it. Raven told me to give it to you. Go buy something nice for yourself, Mutti. Not for me-for you." Erik squeezed her hand and kissed the top of her head.

Edie nodded and have a weak smile to Erik. "Yes, Erik. Are you hungry?"  
Erik shook his head and headed to his bedroom to catch up on the sleep he had missing because of him thinking about Charles.

Finally the most important Friday of Erik's life came and he was automatically hit with nervousness. Erik spent an extra 5 minutes making sure he looked good at school; hair parted perfectly and not a speck of dust of his pants or shirt. He put on an extra dab of cologne since Charles seemed to be fond of his 'smell'.

School seemed to crawl by slowly like a dying animal. Lunch was incredibly short to Erik as him and Charles sat alone and chatted about the project. Charles gave him chips again. Shaw luckily didn't bother them which was a major relief to Erik. As soon as it started, lunch was over and Erik was back to English. The only thing Erik could think of during his English class was the fact that he had Art next and the date tonight. He even got a nervous jitter and leg shake going on.

Art class was just as quick as lunch. Charles and Erik went over their project details with each other and practice their presentation to each other. Once that was finished, they perfected their portrait of Michelangelo and called it a day. They sat and chatted about how weird Mr. Howlett's beard/sideburns were behind his back for the rest of class. The bell rang and the two went their separate ways. Erik went to track down Hank; making sure he was clear of the plan and knew how to get to Erik's house. Raven met up with them to run down the finer details. All they needed were jerseys and a team name.

Erik got a ride home on the bus. It was a short ride since they only made two stops. Erik got off at his stop and jogged home. He had a lot of work to do before the date and only a short time to do it. Erik threw down his backpack and raced to the bathroom to shower. He washed his hair thoroughly and used a new body wash. A few minutes later he was drying off. With his boxers on, he took his new pants and ironed them, making sure there were no unneeded creases. He slipped them on and ironed his shirt next. Once that was done, he put his arms through the sleeves and buttoned it over his wife-beater. He left the top two buttons undone and contemplating on if he should leave it like it was or button it once more. He finally chose to button it once more and became annoyed with the collar. _It's for Charles, Erik. Remember that._

Erik must have spent ten minutes doing his hair. He dried it and combed it, parting it exactly right. He gelled down the short pieces to give it a more flowy part look. Erik had his hair style down to a science and once he double checked that it was perfect, he set his comb down happily. Erik glanced at his clock; 6:30. Hank should be there any minute. Charles would arrive for dinner at 7 and the movie was at 9 which gave them just enough time for the meal and dessert. Raven said she was good friends with the owner's family and managed to book the whole restaurant.

Erik heard a knock on his door and jumped a little with nerves. He opened the door to see Hank, as nerdier as usual, adjusting his glasses.  
"You ready?" Hank asked. Erik nodded, too nervous to speak. _This is just Hank…wait till you see Charles, Erik. Oh god, I can't breathe. Calm down, Erik._

They got into Hank's old beat up car and that awkward silence fell. They talked briefly about how he and Raven were doing and then silence was back. Erik toyed with his thumbs to calm his nerves and pass the time. He must have done it for a long time because he felt the car stop.  
"We're here." Hank said in his little nerdy voice. Erik was about to have a heart attack. He nodded at Hank and got out. He met the owner at the door, shook his hand and went inside. The restaurant was gorgeous; candles were lit and there was classical Italian music playing in the background. It really seemed like Charles' kind of place. Just as Erik was starting to calm down with the atmosphere, the owner walked in from the kitchen.  
"Erik, I just got a text message from Raven. They are two minutes away. She's going to blindfold him and walk him in and she wants you to be standing by the table so when he takes off the blindfold he sees you. Sounds good, yes?" The owner said with his Italian accent. Erik nodded and swallowed deeply, feeling his heart in his stomach. Erik took his place and heard a car park outside the restaurant. He gulped seeing Raven pushing the blindfolded Charles through the door.

"Raven, can I take this silly thing off now?" Charles complained. Raven winked at Erik who meekly smiled back.  
"You can on the count of 3. 1…2…" Raven quietly slipped out of the door.  
"3." Erik said, smiling. Charles slipped the blindfold off and let out a breathless 'Erik'. Erik, still smiling pointed to the table next to him.  
"I hope you don't mind that I'm stealing you for the night." Erik winked as Charles sat down across from him.  
Charles was still trying to take everything in. He still couldn't believe this was all happening. "Is this…like a…?"  
"Date?" Charles nodded shyly.

"Yes, Charles. I've been planning it for a few days now. Once we finished with dinner I want to take you to see that Prometheus movie you wanted to see." Erik smiled, still shaking slightly with nerves. He was gradually getting calmer now that Charles was around.

Charles blushed bright red and smiled like an idiot. "That sounds wonderful, Erik. "

Erik ordered some meat dish and Charles got a bowl of a shrimp penne pasta. The food was absolutely delicious. Erik's steak-like thing was as big as the plate and Charles' bowl of pasta was a large as his head.  
"Erik, does this mean you-well, you don't have to but, I'm just curios really-"Charles squirmed trying to ask his question. Erik smirked.  
"Yes, I like you, Charles Xavier."

Charles turned a very vibrate shade or red. Any doubt of whether or not Erik was lying quickly left Charles when he looked into Erik's eyes. Charles could feel that Erik genuinely meant it.  
"Does that make me the one that turned you gay then? If so I feel accomplished." Charles joked, smiling like a beauty pageant winner.  
Erik laughed. "I guess you are. Congratulations, Charles." Erik voice was warm and kind. Charles felt calm and relaxed which he thought he'd never feel around Erik.

"Did you save room for dessert?" Erik asked, putting down his steak knife and fork on his barren plate. Charles frowned, rubbing his stomach.  
"I don't think so. Maybe we could just get ice cream after the movie-only if you want to though!" Charles added quickly.  
Erik smiled. "I'd love to."

The waiter brought Erik the check. After trying his best to cover the mini heart attack he had after seeing the price, he handed the waiter the cash. Charles eyed the stack of money with bewilderment.  
"Where did you get all that money?" Charles asked when the waiter left.  
Erik shrugged. "I've been saving up my money for tonight. Don't worry about money, I've got it covered."

Charles stared at him with admiration. "You are amazing, Erik. Really, you are the most interesting person I've ever met." Charles put a hand on Erik's arm. Now it was Erik that was bright red. He mumbled a 'thank you' and the waiter came back with the receipt. Charles and Erik stood up, thanked the owner for the delicious meal and got into Charles' car. The drive to the movie theater was short and Erik and Charles actually found things to talk about instead of the awkward silence they shared when they normally rode together.

The theater from the outside looked pretty packed but Erik assured him it was just because of a new movie premier. Actually, the theater for Prometheus was empty (since it had been out for a while) and they were alone in the gigantic stadium like theater. They picked a spot at the top in the dead middle. Erik was toying with his thumbs again during the previews, not knowing what to do with his hands. _Should I put them around Charles? Just keep them here? WHAT DO I DO?_

Erik finally settled for putting his arm around Charles. The process was slow; he inched his arm up and around Charles' head without him noticing. He finally set it down and Charles didn't even flinch. Actually, Charles smiled and leaned his head against Erik's chest. With the cup holder pushed back, they actually had all the room in the world and were extremely comfortable. The movie started and Charles watched with awe as the sequence of waterfalls and landscapes came on with the opening credits. Out of nowhere an alien guy popped up on their scream and he drank some weird liquid and died in pieces and fell into the waterfall. Erik glanced at Charles' face. He had a lot of confusion of his face that made Erik laugh. Charles felt his laugh from the hallow of Erik's chest and smiled, moving in closer to Erik.

A blonde robot apparently named David was on the screen now, doing weird tasks by himself. Charles seemed to become attached to the character and he said that Erik looked like him with awe. Erik didn't see it since this guy had blonde hair but smiled and nodded regardless. The movie moved along and Charles seemed to be intrigued by its deep questions.

And they soon found out why the movie was rated R. A scary scene came up and Charles burrowed his head in Erik's shirt and closed his eyes, clenching onto Erik's shirt for dear life. Erik put a hand on his head and spoke softly to him, telling him when it was over. Charles lifted his head up and looked at Erik with tears forming in his eyes. Erik took a risk and kissed the top of Charles' head and smiled.  
"It's over. I'll tell you when everything bad is over, okay?"  
Charles nodded and looked back at the movie. _Thank god it's dark and Erik can't see my blush. I must be as red as a tomato by now. _Charles thought, feeling his face get hot.

Then there was a kissing scene that eventually lead to implied sex. Erik sat up straight in his chair, feeling uncomfortable. Erik tried as best as he could to shoo any inappropriate thoughts of Charles out of his head. He wasn't even officially Charles' boyfriend yet…_Time will come, Erik. Time will come._

A few more scary scenes occurred and Charles retreated back to Erik's shirt for protection. Erik put his hand on Charles' head every time and whispered in his ear when it was over. Charles thanked him quietly after every time. Erik just smiled and adverted his attention back to the movie. He couldn't help but notice that every scene David was in, Charles got a smile on his face and stared at the screen with lust. Erik felt a twinge of jealous and tried to ignore it since him and David look alike to Charles. Erik couldn't help but want to punch the daylights out of the robots though.

The movie was over and both of them left the theater with curiosity on their minds. They asked each other about their theories and thoughts of the movie.  
"I thought it was okay. David was annoying to me though." Erik commented.

"Why? David was the best part. He really did look just like you Erik. Wait, are you jealous?" Charles teased shuffling closer to Erik. Erik turned his head to hide his subtle blush.  
"You're being ridiculous. No I wasn't because no matter how much you love David 8 he's not the one on a date with you." Erik said, giving Charles a grin.

Charles and Erik got in the car and drove to the nearest ice cream parlor. They had to park the car in a parking garage and walk to the parlor but Erik didn't mind. This was his chance to see how comfortable Charles was with him. As they were walking, Erik slowly slipped his hand into Charles'. Without flinching again, Charles reacted by squeezing Erik's hand and held it tighter. Erik let out a sigh of relief and the two walked in sync. They held hands all the way to the shop, while they got ice-cream and on the way back.

While walking back, Erik noticed Charles had managed to get ice-cream all over his lips. Erik paused for a second and Charles stared at him with curiosity. Erik tugged him closer, slowly bringing his lips to Charles'. Charles was shocked at first but started to get comfortable and eased into Erik's kiss. The kiss started out slow and suddenly became passionate. The two broke apart for air and Charles raised an eyebrow at Erik.

"What was that for?"  
Erik gave a nervous laugh. "You had ice-cream on your lips."  
"Really? What flavor was it?"  
Erik stroked his chin in a thoughtful manner. "I don't really know. May I have a second taste?"  
Charles smiled. "Must you even ask?" He laughed and kissed Erik again, this one just as passionate as they had ended the last but slightly longer.

Pulling apart for air again, Charles smiled at Erik.  
"Does this mean we're officially dat-?" Erik cut him off with another kiss.  
"Must you even ask?" He teased, holding Charles' hand tighter. The two walked back to the car, hand in hand, laughing and talking to each other.

Erik felt good. He felt calm and relaxed. This is what he was meant to do; date Charles ad kiss under the moonlight. Erik thought he might be getting soft but he realized Charles was changing him into a better, more caring person. He was a lot less of a jack-ass now and Erik was sure everyone appreciated it.

After making out in the front seat of Charles' car, the two drove to Erik's apartment. Charles walked with him to Erik's door. They stood outside talking, not wanting the other one to leave.  
"I'm really glad that you didn't just run away when you saw me in the restaurant. I was worried you would laugh at me…" Erik confessed, rubbing the back of his neck.  
Charles smiled and took a step closer to him. "I would never do such a thing. Trust me, I would never run away from you, Erik."  
Erik felt his knees go week when Charles said his name. He said it so easily, like he had been saying his name for years.

Erik gave Charles another kiss, this one was longer than all the others. Erik couldn't help but notice that Charles was standing on his toes to reach Erik's mouth which made him smile into the kiss. He wanted to stay like this forever; just him and Charles. Except not with the old Russian couple from three doors down staring at them.

Erik checked his watch. "It's almost midnight, Charles. You should head home. It's really dark out." Charles nodded and gave Erik another quick peck on the lips before turning to leave. They waved goodbye and Erik unlocked his door. His mother was sitting in the kitchen, flipping through her cookbooks.

"Erik! How was your date?" Edit jumped with excitement and ran to him. They hugged and Erik smiled.  
"Wunderbar, Mutti. We're dating now." Erik felt such pride in saying that. Charles Xavier was all his. _Take that David 8!_

Edit smiled and kissed his forehead.

"Alles ist gut."

**A/N: 4,000 words! (including this) I DID IT! This is a first for me so I'm quite happy! Also this is chapter 9! Can you believe it? I surely can't! I hope the Prometheus part wasn't too spoilery. I love the movie and I tried to only point out scenes that were in the trailers. Anyway thank you for keeping up with me so far! I'm not sure how many more chapters I have left but there are more to come! New chapter up tomorrow. Thank you and feel free to review.**


	10. Awkward Bus Rides and Bloody Noses

**A/N: Thank you everyone for reading! Thank you reviewers too (: The comments always make my day! There's some drama going down in this chapter and the next one so get ready!**

Erik woke up around 11 am the following Saturday morning and slumped into the shower. Getting changed for the day, he still felt extremely tired. He had stayed up last night; replaying the night in his head over and over again. Edie had already had her breakfast and covered Erik's with foil. Erik sat down at the table to eat his now cold food. He grabbed a cent coins from his nightstand and headed out the door.

On his way to the lobby, Erik was pleased to see no one was on the phone. Putting the coins in the machine, he dialed Charles' number. Unfortunately Raven picked up.

"Hello?" Raven said from the other side.  
"Raven? This is Erik; I'm looking for Charles." Erik looked over his shoulder to see if anyone was eavesdropping in on him; for some reason that was everyone's favorite thing to do here.

There was a pause before Raven answered. "He's in the library. I'll get him in a second. First, I want to talk to you. You have a good time last night?"

Erik looked at the phone in confusion. "Why are you asking me this? Didn't Charles come home extremely happy? He was when he left. Yes, I had the best time of my life if you must know."

"Oh, just wanted to make sure that _you _had a goodtime and weren't just _acting _like you liked him."

Erik gave a snicker. "Really? You think I'd do that? We're dating now, just so you know." Erik was getting annoyed and just wanted to talk to Charles.  
"Alright but remember: you hurt him and I hurt you. Got it?" Erik could imagine her sticking her pointer finger in his face and giving a menacing face.  
"Got it. Now can I please talk to Charles?" Erik could hear Raven shouting out Charles' name. She didn't move her phone away so she just shouted right into the phone, nearly making Erik deaf.  
"Hello?" Erik recognized Charles' voice. He did sound different over the phone though.

"Charles, how are you?" Erik smiled, realizing he could call Charles whenever he wanted to now because they were dating. Not that he was going to; the phone costed money to use and Erik wasn't doing too well in that department. Plus he didn't want to be that annoying and nagging boyfriend.  
"Now I'm doing great!" Erik could almost feel Charles' smile through the phone. He could also imagine Charles was fiddling with the phone cord by twisting in around his finger.

"Are you free? I'm bored to tears and wanted to know if you wanted to hang out or something?" Erik asked.  
Charles paused, thinking. "Yeah, I'm free. What did you want to do?"  
Erik took a minute to answer that question _correctly _without seeming like a creep. He shrugged and said, "Maybe we go to the park? We could always just go to your house. I'd offer mine but there's not much you can do in a 4 room house." _Oh god, that sounded dirty. Let's hope he doesn't notice it._

Charles snorted with laughter. "Sounds like someone's getting frisky. What exactly do you have in mind that we do at my house?"  
_Crap, he thinks I'm a pervert.  
_"Sorry, that did sound wrong. We could just-I dunno-hangout?" Erik wasn't sure which shocked him more: the fact that he had said something extremely perverted to Charles or the fact that Charles said he was 'frisky'.

Charles smiled. "Sounds good to me. Do you want a ride?"  
"Nah, I'll just take the bus. If you want to meet me at the closest bus stop and we can walk from there."  
"Erik, that's like a 10 minute walk."  
Erik smiled. "Perfect. See you then." He hung up the phone and walked back upstairs to get his bus pass. Slipping on his tan jacket, he said goodbye to Edie and left for the bus spot. It was about 4 blocks away with the next bus boarding in 10 minutes. Erik got there just in time. Taking a seat in the middle aisles, Erik sat by himself quietly, listening to an old Jewish lady talking on the phone.

At the next stop a short girl with a curly brown hair and silver-white highlights got on and sat in the aisle next to Erik. He stared at him, a smile on her face. She slipped off her jacket and licked her lips. _Is she trying to seduce me?_ Erik thought, staring straight ahead.  
"I like you jacket, big boy." _Big boy? _Erik tried not to laugh and just smiled slightly.  
"Thanks." He continued to stare out the window. She seemed angered that he wasn't looking at her.

"My name's Anna Marie. How about yourself?" The girl asked, running a hand through her brown hair. Erik kept looking out the window.  
"Erik."  
"You single, Erik? Lonely?" Anna Marie asked, sliding closer to him and leaning forward slightly.

"No, I'm sorry. I have a boyfriend." Erik said, flashing an apologetic smile and focused his attention on the window; looking for Charles just over the hill.

Anna Marie just shifted her weight in her chair. "Well me too but they don't have to know." Her voice was husky as if it was her seducing voice.

"Oh, I didn't think you were that dumb. I'm _gay._ Even if I was single I wouldn't be much of a date. Unless you grew a penis." Erik's voice was monotone and bored. He didn't even know this chick and frankly, he was glad he didn't. His comment shut her up and she didn't talk to Erik for the rest of the bus ride.

Finally they reached Erik's stop and he got off, expecting to see a joyful Charles but was quick to find that he was alone. He waited a few minutes before he started to get worried. _Am I at the right bus stop? Is Charles okay? What if he's hurt? _Erik face was grave and he decided to run in a full sprint to Charles' house. Luckily for him, he only ran a block before he saw Charles. He was being followed by three people who were following him hastily. Erik ran over to him, only to see that it was Shaw, Azazel and Janos picking on Charles.

Charles gave Erik a look of 'save me!' and 'Run before they make fun of you!' but Erik remained where he was. Shaw saw him and gave that evil smirk.  
"Well looks like he have a double package deal here today. How are you two doing? Working on that art project?" Shaw asked while he and the other two circled Erik and Charles like hyenas. Erik grabbed Charles' hand.

"Leave us alone, Shaw." Erik said; his voice lower and stronger than normal. Shaw's eyes trailed off to Erik's hand and noticed that they were holding hands now.  
"Oh gosh, don't tell me it's true! You two are dating now aren't you?" Erik squeezed Charles' hand tighter and pulled him a litter closer to him, as if he was marking Charles as his possession.

"Fuck off, Shaw." Erik growled at him. Janos and Azazel exchanged a look with Shaw. Azazel and Janos grabbed Charles and dragged him away from Erik and Shaw. Charles gave Erik a helpless sheep look.  
"Erik, I thought we were friends. You know how I feel about _faggots._" Shaw gave a disgusted look and spit the word out like it was venom to him. Erik's eyes narrowed.  
"We were never friends." Erik took one step closer to him, fists clenched at his sides.  
Shaw smirked. "Erik, I made you the guy you are today."  
"So you made me gay? Sorry but the only one you can thank for that is my _boyfriend, _Charles." Erik was beaming with confidence. He smiled and hardened his gaze.

Shaw nodded to Azazel and Janos. They had Charles by his arms and threw him onto the ground. Janos pinned him down while Azazel started kicking him.  
Erik became enraged. "You Assholes!" Erik threw a punch hard at Shaw's face, most likely broke his nose in the process. He then ran over and punched the daylights out of Azazel. Erik was hit once or twice in the gut and face. Kicking Janos away in the face, Erik kneeled down beside Charles. Charles was breathing heavily and his nose was bleeding rapidly. Erik picked him up in his arms and started to run to Charles' house.

"Fags always run away, Erik!" Shaw yelled after Erik, wiping the blood from his broken nose on his sleeve. Erik paused briefly to flick him off before continuing to carry Charles. Charles was crying slightly, holding his rib cage in pain.  
"That's why I didn't want to walk." Charles said, groaning in pain from talking. Erik looked at him with regret in his eyes.  
"I'm _so sorry, _Charles._" _Erik leaned forward and kissed the top of Charles' head. Charles closed his eyes, letting his tears run down his face.

They finally made it to Charles' house. Erik rushed inside and set Charles down on the nearest sofa. He went into the kitchen to get a wet paper towel for Charles' bloody nose. He came back to see a scared Raven talking to Erik.  
"Oh my god! What happened?" Raven gasped, seeing how bloody he was. She looked up to Erik and gasped again. Erik guessed he has a black eye and was bleeding from getting hit too. Erik put the paper towel on Charles' nose and rubbed away the dried blood.

"Shaw. Charles was walking and I guess they saw him and followed. They corned us and started attacking him. So I fought back and got him away from their as soon as I could." Erik said, still cleaning Charles' face. Raven nodded and wen to get more paper towels to help.  
Charles smiled at Erik. "Thank you for that. I could hear Shaw's nose breaking from where I was. I bet that felt good."  
Erik frowned at Charles. "It was but I wish it wasn't because they were hurting you. This is my fault. I should have just walked by myself. This is just turning out to be a rather shitting day for me. First that awkward bus ride and now this-. "  
Charles looked intrigued. "What happened on the bus?" His eyebrow was raised slightly.

"Nothing; just got hit on by a girl. I told her I was with someone and gay so don't worry. It just made the whole ride extremely awkward. "Erik said, finally done with cleaning Charles' face. The blood flow had stopped. Charles was frowning.  
"I bet she was beautiful." Charles said with a hurt tone. Erik looked at him with the most bewildered look Charles had ever seen.

"What are you talking about? I'm dating you. I'm gay. Besides, did you see me punching people to save her? No, I was saving you. Besides, the only one beautiful that I know is you." Erik leaned over and kissed Charles softly. Mushy romance stuff made Erik sick to his stomach but he knew Charles liked it so he gave up his man card to make him happy. Charles smiled, blushing bright pink.

"Thank you, Erik. I'm sorry this had kinda ruined our day." Charles frowned, grabbing Erik's hand. Erik let out a chuckle.  
"I know how he could make this day better." Erik smirked, and practically jumped on Charles, kissing him on the sofa. Erik's kisses were fast and sloppy but full of emotion. Charles reached his hands around Erik's neck and pulled him in closer. Charles ran his fingers through Erik's perfect hair. They only parted when they needed air. It wasn't long until Erik's tongue was involved in the action. Everything was great until they heard a shriek. The pulled away and looked up to see a very frightened Raven.

"Could you guys wait until you're in your room before you drive into your hot make-outs sessions? I don't need to see it. "Raven shook her head violently, shaking all the sight of her brother making out with his boyfriend from her head. She turned to go back into the kitchen. Erik looked down at Charles with a devious look.  
"Why don't we bring it upstairs then?" Erik licked his lips and kissed Charles once more.

"Hate to be a downer but you're not getting lucky on the second day of our relationship, buddy. Besides, my rib cage hurts and having you sitting on top of it didn't really help the pain." Charles said, rubbing his ribs. Erik sighed.  
"I know that. But if you want to kiss without screaming little sisters ruining it I suggest we got upstairs."

Charles pouted. "My ribs hurt, Erik. Carry me?"  
Erik sighed. "Again? You've got legs!" That only seemed to upset Charles so Erik picked him up wedding style again and carried him upstairs where he lightly set him on the corner of the bed. Erik lied down next to him, close as he possibly could.

Out of the corner of his eye, Erik could see Charles was frowning.  
"You know this means Shaw is going to tell everyone at school and you're going to get picked on too, right?"  
Erik nodded. "I know. But I promise I won't let them pick on you anymore. Besides, I'm a thug. I think they will be too scared to mess with me. I can handle Shaw and his gang. Don't worry." Erik leaned over and kissed Charles slowly. "No one's going to hurt you from now one. "

Charles was tearing up now and smiled at Erik with thanks. The smile was gone in a second though. "The only person I care about not hurting me is you, Erik. I mean it when I say this….I-I love you." Charles was bright red.

_Erik, he's laying his heart on his sleeve for you. He means it, you can feel it. Charles, I would never hurt you._

Erik kissed Charles again, softly and put his forehead against Charles'.  
"I love you too."

**A/N: The drama is beginning! Kinda, the whole fight was the drama. Next chapter is gonna have more drama, just you wait. Anna Marie is Rogue in case you didn't know (that rhymed!) I'm sorry she's really OOC but I needed someone to flirt with Erik so we see a little jealous Charles and she was the first person I thought of . Sorry this one isn't as long as the last one but that took me ALL DAY to write O_O. Anyway, I'm ranting now. Thanks for reading and reviewing! New chapter up tomorrow. **


	11. Mental Images and Lying Spiders

**A/N: Thanks for reading/reviewing! This chapter is gonna have some drama (not too much because I'm so uncreative if you couldn't tell already) but I promise the eventual good ending. Anyway, enjoy!**

Erik spent the following Sunday at his apartment, fixing various leaks and holes in the walls all around the apartment. For some reason he was the designated handyman to everyone since they only had to pay his a dollar for the service. After a long and hard day of running around and doing odd jobs, Erik took a long shower and went right to bed after dinner.

Monday rolled in too quickly for Erik's liking. He woke up earlier than usual, couldn't fall back asleep and decided to just stay up. He spent 10 minutes deciding what to wear; trying to impress Charles. He settled on a black polo with khaki pants. Due to the cold autumn air, he piled his brown leather jacket over the polo. Spending extra time on his hair, Erik finished at his normal time despite waking up early. He ate a roll for his breakfast and kissed Edie goodbye. He walk to the bus stop were the rest of the kids on the bus whispered and laughed at him. Erik didn't let it bother him and just sat down in the back.

The laughing and pointing didn't stop when he got to school everyone's eyes were on him as he walked to his locker. Erik saw Charles pulling books out of his locker and came up and hugged him from behind. Charles let out a scared gasp until realizing it was Erik. He put him down and kissed Charles lightly on the lips. The whispers got louder.  
"What's wrong with everyone today? Do I have a 'look at this idiot' sign on my back or what?" Erik asked Charles, his hands on his hips.

Charles frowned slightly. "No but you do have a 'I'm gay for Xavier' sign on your back." Charles ripped it off and showed Erik. Erik took it and crumbled it up into a ball.  
"What are they in first grade or something? They think that's gonna bother me?" Erik was annoyed and tossed the ball of paper over his shoulder. Erik took Charles' hand and held it tightly.  
"Charles, I couldn't care less about what these assholes think." He gave Charles a kiss on his forehead. Charles smiled but it seemed to be a worried smile.

"I know but I'd hate to see you get bullied like I do. As handsome as you are I don't think you'd look too great with a salad on your head. At least you didn't have to get bullied when we had gym. I had my clothes stolen every class. Though I wouldn't mind seeing you running around angry in your undies." Charles poked Erik's chest and laughed. Erik rolled his eyes and smiled at Charles.

"Settle down there, tiger. I can make that happen for you if you really wish." Erik teased, winking at Charles. Charles turned bright pink and playfully pushed Erik away. The bell rang and the two kissed one last time and went in their separate ways.

Erik had to deal with History with the queen bitch herself, Emma Frost. She sat right next to Erik in the back and had a smug look on her face.  
"So, gay huh?" She asked, poking him with her white pencil. Erik looked at her and wondered by she cared and settled with a nod. She smiled and looked at the bored and then back at Erik.  
"That explains a lot." Erik raised an eyebrow. "Well, you're the only guy to turn me down so that explains why. Plus you're starting to look and act like a fag. Your boyfriend like your cologne? It's really strong today."  
"Yeah he does. And I wasn't even gay when I turned you down by the way. I did it because I didn't want you. Sorry if that's too hard for you to understand." Erik said all while looking at the teacher. He didn't want to talk to Emma today or ever for that matter. Emma crossed her arms with a 'Hmph!'. She was quiet for a long while, watching Erik carefully. She smiled devious at one point, thinking of something that Erik knew was nothing but trouble.

The bell rang and Erik was excited to leave and get away from Emma until he realized who was in his next class. Of course he had study hall with Shaw. Groaning at he walked through the crowded halls, he walked slowly as if waiting inevitable death. Erik sat down in the back next to a nice kid named Darwin who didn't seem to hate Erik. They didn't talk and just sat in silence as the bell rang for class to start. Erik didn't have any work and decided to just catch up on lost sleep. He used his coat as a pillow on his desk. He was drifting into a nice sleep when someone slammed their hand on the desk just inches from Erik's face. He jolted up looking pissed and tired. Shaw was laughing his head off and sat down on the other side of Erik.

"So how's the fag life treating you?" Shaw said with a smiled and Erik had to stifle his laughter when seeing Shaw's broken nose. Erik just sat up straight and mustered up a fake smile.  
"Wonderful, thank you. I have the best boyfriend." His smile screamed 'shut-up-you-asshole-and-leave-me-alone'. Shaw must have been rusty on his body language skills because he just kept talking.  
"You two have gay sex yet? Did he pull out a protractor and tell you the angle you two were making?"  
Erik just smiled. "You really want to know the answer to that?" The answer was no but Erik thought it couldn't hurt to freak him out a little. Shaw gave him a look of utter disgust and sneered at him. Erik wasn't done here. "Nice nose, Shaw." That shut him up.

Erik managed through the rest of study hall since Shaw didn't talk to him. The bell finally rang and he met Charles in the hallway. They walked, hand in hand, to lunch were they sat at the usual table. Erik could hear the seniors whispering among themselves but no one dared to do anything. Everyone was too scared of Erik to bother with him which made things easier for him and Charles. Charles gave him his bag of chips and the two split a piece of chocolate cake that Charles brought from home.

"How were you're morning classes?" Charles asked, stabbing at the cake with his fork.  
"I had History with Emma and study hall with Shaw. Not the most fun classes. But they didn't talk to me too much about the whole being 'gay' thing so I guess that cool. Oh if Shaw asks if we, you know, _did _anything don't say no." Charles nearly choked on his cake.

"You said we had sex?" Charles half-whispered and half-shouted.

"No, I didn't say we did but I didn't say we didn't. I just wanted to give him that mental image to him get him shut up. " Erik said, trying to calm down Charles.  
Charles was bright red, thinking to himself. "What?" Erik asked, watching him squirm in his chair.

"Oh nothing…you're just giving me that mental image now too." Charles said, his face flushed red and a stupid grin on his face. An uncomfortable silence fell upon them as Erik stared at the daydreaming Charles with wide eyes.

Erik couldn't take the awkwardness. "Will you stop that?" He snapped at Charles who focused back to reality and gave him a guilty smile. Erik sighed, rolled his eyes and took another stab at the cake slice. The two talked about going on another date on Friday. The bell rang and the couple kissed goodbye, walking their separate ways. As Erik walked he could hear people whispering to one another, calling him 'the faggot' and 'the gay kid' and 'crazy for the dick'. Erik just ignored them, walking grumpily to his tech-ed class.

He took a seat next to Alex who eyed his awkwardly. Alex didn't ask him anything about him being gay which saved his life in Erik's mind. Azazel sat beside Alex, snickering when he saw Erik. He ignored him and went to work on his bird house. The rest of his day went slowly like this, since his 'kinda-friend' Angel was sick in Chemistry and he had to do the lab by himself.

Just when he thought his first day of being openly gay was over, a crying Emma Frost came running up to him when Erik was at his locker.  
"What do you want, Emma?" Erik asked, not even looking up.  
She squealed. "There's a bug on my shoulder! Can you get it off?" Emma pointed to a black spider that was crawling on her bare shoulder. Erik sighed and went to hit the spider away but it jumped down to Emma's collar down. She was jumping up and down, screaming with fright. Erik brushed it off with his hand when Emma jerked her body. She stopped screaming and looked down at Erik's hand which was right on her left breast. Looking shocked, Emma screamed and slapped Erik. Janos, who was hidden behind Emma this whole time popped up and took a picture of Erik with his hand on Emma's chest. Erik moved it, throwing his hands up in the air.

"It was a mistake! I didn't mean too! Delete that picture!" Erik shouted at Janos who was running away now. Emma smiled at the now pissed off Erik.  
"This is what you get for turning me down when I wanted you, Erik. I think your boyfriend will be most displeased with you when he sees that picture." Emma smugly whispered into Erik's ear. He meant white with rage, clenching his fists.  
"Why are you doing this?" He growled; teeth grinding one another. He had to remind himself he couldn't punch a girl not even Emma Frost.

"Ask Shaw." She said, smiling. Emma turned and walked away. Erik tried to control his rage. He calmed down slightly, remembering that Charles wouldn't believe Janos even with the picture. Then he could explain the situation to him. Just when Erik had calmed down enough, a buzz of phones rang out. It seemed like everyone's phones were ringing with a new message. They all opened their phones to see a picture sent by a restricted number. The picture was of course Erik with his hand on Emma's chest. The caption was 'Looks like this fag was faking it all along-now he's after boobs!'.

Everyone turned and looked at Erik. A roar of conversation broke out, everyone pointing at Erik. Anger boiling up, he ran through the crowd, trying to find Charles. He wasn't at his locker and Erik feared he might have already left. Running outside, Erik searched the parking lot for his car. Charles was just getting in and starting his car when Erik ran up to him. Charles was crying tears of anger and ignored Charles. Erik opened up the door and tried to catch his breath.

"So, I'm guessing you saw the picture then. Charles, I can explain-"  
"Fuck off. I don't have time for this. I knew it was too good to be true. Who put you up to fake dating me? Shaw? Azazel? Or was it Emma because you seem to be pretty close with her." Charles spat his words at Erik, crying with rage. Erik felt his heart in his stomach. He had never heard Charles curse like that before and his pained him to think that Erik had caused him to say it.

"No, Charles. I love you remember? Emma had a bug on her shoulder and she asked me to get it off of her so I did and then when my hand was still close enough she moved her body under it and Janos took the picture. I swear, I still love you." Erik was on the verge of crying too now, seeing Charles' face filled with rage. _You somehow manage to screw everything up, Erik. _He thought to himself, letting a single tear hit the pavement.

"I want to believe you, Erik. I really do. But where's your witness? They have a photo and what do you have? I have to pick up my mother at the airport. I'll talk to you tomorrow about this." Charles shut him door with a loud slam and drove away. Erik was alone in the parking lot.

"I can't believe you, Erik." A pissed off Raven barked at him from behind. Erik turned around, wiping his tears.  
"Listen, the whole thing was a mistake." Erik retold the story to Raven.  
"And you expect me to believe you? They have picture evidence." Raven crossed her arms over her chest. Erik sighed.  
"I love your brother. I really do. I don't know if he understand that but I do. I would do nothing to hurt him. Please, Raven, I love him and I need him back. Is there anything I can do to have him trust me again?" Erik was practically begging for her to believe him. Tears were falling form his eyes at a rpaid rate now.

Raven let out a long sigh. "I believe you but getting Charles to trust you again might be harder than you think. He really put his heart out there for you and getting back on his good side might take a while. You willing to do the work?"  
Erik nodded. "I'm willing to do anything and everything."

"Well if you want to win him back you're going to have to do something extreme." An Idea came to Raven's mind. "There's this professor of genetics that Charles has a total nerd crush on. Maybe if you got him to write a letter or something to Charles he'd forgive you."

Erik smiled. "Better yet; I'm going to let Charles meet him."

**A/N: Okay this turned out nothing like how I expected. I'm sorry it's all over the place and short (I'm REALLY sick) but trust me this will all make sense in the next chapter or two. I promise! I hope the drama wasn't too stupid (I'm a total loner so I don't know what type of drama goes on at my school) Anyway new (and longer) chapter up tomorrow. Only a few chapters left! Thanks for reading!**


	12. Emails and Spotlights

**A/N: Alright I promise this chapter will be longer! I was violently ill yesterday so sorry for it being short. I just really wanted to upload for you guys. I'm feeling better today so I promise a longer chapter (not 4,000 words cuz that took me ages to write) Also the story is coming to an end. Only like 2 or 3 chapters left after this!**

Erik took five dollars from his wallet and used the apartment computer in the lobby. Raven had given him some detail about the Professor's name and everything. Erik opened up Google and searched 'Professor McFassy and a thousand results came up. He narrowed it down by adding 'genetics' in the title and found his man. Dr. McFassy was a Genetics professor at a local college that Charles had interned for during the summer. Despite working in the biochemistry wing, Charles never actually got to meet the professor he loved so much.

Erik got in contact with Dr. McFassy via email. Erik made the subject 'urgent help needed'. He began to type his letter:

_Professor McFassy,_

_My name is Erik Lensherr and I am in need of your assistance. My boyfriend Charles is a huge fan of your work and research. He was an intern for the college this summer but sadly never got to meet you. And now I screwed everything up in our relationship and I need your help. Is there any way you could pay him a visit, just for 10 minutes even, at our high school? We can pay you. You right now are the only thing that will fix our relationship. Sorry to bother you like this.  
-Erik Lensherr_

Erik sent the email and waited for a couple minutes. He checked his inbox again but there was no new message. Erik sat back in his car, anxiously awaiting the email. He sat around for 2 hours before he got his reply. Erik opened the message to find only two sentences.

_Can do. Give me the location. _

Erik had to stop himself form doing a happy dance. He replied back with all the details of when and where. Erik couldn't help but smile. He was going to get Charles back.

He and Dr. McFassy settled on the coming up Thursday during Charles' first block study hall. Erik had gotten permission from Frau Monroe to miss class. He even got Raven out of her class with Mr. Summers to help.

The rest of the week before then was long and painful. Charles wouldn't talk or sit with Erik at lunch. He spent his time eating in the teacher work room with Ms. Grey. Erik sat with Darwin, Angel, Alex and Sean at lunch. They for some reason weren't sitting with Shaw and his gang for once. Erik guessed what Shaw and Emma did had pissed them off too.

"It's just not cool, ya' know? I mean, we don't have to share the same sexuality or anything but that doesn't mean he can do that man." Sean said, poking at his school made burrito. Angel nodded and sighed.  
"I'm sorry this happened to you, Erik. You and Charles seemed to be good for each other." Angel put her hand on Erik and gave an apologetic smile.

"It's okay guys. I'm going to get him back. I have a plan…and I might need your guys' help." Erik said and explained the plan. Angel gave an 'Awww' and the rest of the guys looked uncomfortable but agreed to help.  
"We have study hall during then so we can help." Sean pointed at Angel, himself and Alex. Erik nodded.  
"I have Advanced PE but I can get out of that." Darwin said with a smile.  
"Thank guys. I can't even begin to tell you how much this means to me." Erik smiled. _I guess they really are my friends after all._

Erik had passed by Charles once or twice in the hallway. Charles ignored him completely when Erik called out to him and tried to get his attention. Charles wouldn't even answer Erik's calls. Raven said that he has been going up to his room after volunteering at school and just stays there all night. She even said she could hear a muffled crying coming from the room and unless Charles was smuggling a baby in there, he was really upset.

Charles and Erik weren't the only ones upset. Edie had taken Erik's relationship detour pretty hard; cursing at Emma, who she had never met, in German.  
"How dare she split my sons apart?" Edie said, crying while washing the dishes furiously. Erik was sitting at the kitchen table and was moved a pea around with his finger on his plate.  
"Sons?" Erik asked with a curious look.  
Edie smiled through her tears. "We all knew you two were destined to get married. You were just so good for each other." Edie get out a sob again and Erik stood up to hug her. She cried softly into Erik's shirt.  
"Mutti, It's my relationship not yours. And besides, I'm going to win him back." Erik said, putting a hand on her head.  
Edie sniffled. "You are?" She broke away from the hug and stared into her son's eyes.  
Erik simply smiled at her. "I have too. I love him." Edie smiled and crying tears mixed of sorrow and joy and hugged Erik again.

Finally Thursday morning arrived and Erik woke up at the crack of dawn: 6 am. Too him it was unspoken to wake up so early but he had a lot to do. After showering, Erik put on a crisp pair of freshly ironed jeans and his favorite black turtle neck. He took his leather jacket out of his closet and went down stairs to eat. He scarfed down his sausage and bacon and ran to his bathroom to brush his teeth again. Everything had to be perfect.

Erik got a ride with Hank to school. Raven got him in on the plan and Erik needed a ride if he was to get to school early. The car ride was silent and Erik sat there nervously. It reminded him of his first date with Charles were he sat nervously in Hank's car. Something about Hank's car and his driving just made Erik nervous enough in general. The reached school and went to the auditorium. Angel, Alex and Sean were there, setting up 50 chairs. The plan was to bring in the advanced strings band to play Charles' favorite Bach piece. Also part of the plan was that Erik was to read Charles a sort of apology letter That Erik had spent all Wednesday night writing. After Erik finished the letter, Dr. McFassy would come out to meet Charles.

Erik was twitching, trying to run over the lines of his letter. He was far past nervous now after seeing the stage all set up. A knock on the back auditorium door startled Erik. He ran up to it, opening it ever so slightly. A tall man with short rust colored hair and a thick ginger beard smiled at Erik.  
"Are you Erik? I'm Dr. McFassy." The tall man smiled and put out his hand for him to shake it. Erik nodded and shook his hand. Opening up the door more, he let the doctor in. Erik quickly ran through the plan for Professor McFassy who nodded and took his place behind the stage.

The then minute bell rang and Erik's nervous were reaching a new level of high. He practically had his letter glued to his eyes, rereading every line until he was certain it was perfect. The members of the string orchestra were hear now and practicing for their performance. Alex and Darwin were adjusting the lights on the stage. Angel and Sean were in their positions besides the curtain to open and close it. Raven stood next to Erik and gave him a smile.

"You really like him don't you?" Raven asked, taking in the sight of the stage.

Erik glanced at her and laughed quietly. "No I don't like him. I _love _him."  
Raven smiled and gave him a sisterly hug. "This is going to blow him away. You really are good for him."

Before Erik could give her a thank you, the bell for two minutes before class had rung and everyone was running to get to their places. Erik went behind the stage and the curtain closed. Alex put a white circle light on the curtain. Darwin turned off the lights so that the only light was on the stage.

The morning announcements rang and everyone stood in silence. After a few pointless memos about the football team, there was total silence. Everyone waited for when they heard the doors open.

In Charles' study hall, a kid named Remy was playing poker with Azazel and form what Charles could tell he was kicking Azazel's butt. Charles took him normal seat in the front and started to read his book. He heard the door open and someone handed his study hall teacher a note. She read the note and looked up at the classroom.

"They need Charles Xavier in the auditorium." She said, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Charles put down his book and took the note. Leaving his backpack in the classroom, he set off for the auditorium. He tried to think of why in the world he was being called there but came up with nothing. Pushing open the loud doors to the auditorium, Charles stepped into the darkness. All he could see was a light pointed on the stage. Charles took a step forward and a spotlight came down on him. Blinded for a second, Charles rubbed his eyes and started walking forward. He was halfway down the aisle when the curtains started to open.

The stage was filled with violinist and cellist and every other string instrument Charles could name. With a wave of the conductor hand, the orchestra began to play Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major. It was Charles' favorite piece and he swayed his head slightly with the music. He was awe-struck. Only raven knew that it was his favorite.

The song continued on for seven minutes and then came to a soft end. Charles clapped loudly, smiling happily. They had done a wonderful job. The curtains closed and the spotlights flased off. When they came back on, there was a microphone standing in the center of the stage in front of the closed curtain. Through the slit of where the curtains come together came Erik with a crumbled piece of paper in his hands. Charles was confused and was torn between leaving and staying and decided on staying. He folded his arms across his chest. Erik looked at him and smiled briefly. Clearing his throat, Erik began to read his letter.

" 'My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite.' I'm pretty sure that's from Romeo and Juliet but you can't always trust Google. Charles, when I first met you, I was sitting on a bench by myself. You pulled up and offered to give me a ride despite the fact I looked like I could 'key your car'. I still look that way but that beside the point. You were the only one to reach out a hand and be my friend when I had none. I took a peanut butter and jelly to the back of the head when sitting with you but I didn't care. I was sitting with you and that's all that mattered. Being a thug and all I had to threaten the seniors that did it but I never left.

"I introduced you to my mother who thought you were cute from the start. She sat with me and helped me realize that I liked you. Finding out that you're gay is a hard to just jump into but I did so gladly because it was for you. We became friends and even got dinner together. I flirted with you at the library and finally mustered up the courage to ask you out. That date was the best day of my life, Charles. I'm sorry that I caused you to get beat up. I broke Shaw's nose pretty good though if that makes up for anything. Later that day we told one another that we loved each other. I've never felt more sure about something in my life before that moment, Charles.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I love you. I truly do and I always will love you. You showed me not to be a jerk about everything. I remember the night you dropped me off you said that you try to find good in everything. Charles, I agree that you do. You found good in _me. _When no one trusted me you were there as a friend and a lover. I promised I'd never let anything hurt you. I realized now that I'm the one that hurt you. I love you Charles and I'm not going to let this misunderstanding ruin what we had. Darwin-"Erik said, stepping out of the way. A gigantic white screen came down and a projector turned on.

"This is the security tape from the camera in the hallway. Frau Monroe helped us get a hold of it. As you can see here, I'm just trying to get a spider off her shoulder. And right there, she moves her body under my hand. Janos pops up to take a picture and I removed my hand immediately. Charles, I wouldn't have done all this if I was lying. This is video proof that she practically put her chest under my hand. How could I want anyone after having you? You're...you're perfect, Charles." Erik was tearing up now. He used the back of his hand to wipe his tears.

"I don't know if you want me back but I know that I need you, Charles. I need you." Erik was crying pretty hard now, and stepped away from the microphone to get control of himself again. He closed his eyes, trying to stop the tears when he felt someone touch his shoulder. He opened his eyes to see a smiling and crying Charles right in front of him on the stage. Charles used his thumb to wipe Erik's falling tears.

"Erik, this means more to me that you could ever imagine. I do want you back. I really do." Charles smiled. "I love you, Erik."  
Erik smiled through his tears. "I love you too, Charles." Erik cupped Charles' face in his hand and kissed him stronger, harder and with more passion then he had ever kissed someone before. Their lips seemed to melt together as if they had been kissing for years. The curtain opened and everyone was clapping and cheering for them. Raven was crying tears of happiness now, holding onto Hank's arm.

Erik broke away, panting for breath. "Charles, we have a special visitor for you today. Meet Professor of Genetics, Dr. McFassy." Erik smiled.

Dr. McFassy walked into sight and Charles looked like he was a kid on Christmas. He ran up and shook the man's hand.

"Sir, I love you work. I am so incredibly honored to meet you!" Charles said, bowing his head slightly.

Dr. McFassy smiled and chuckled. "I've heard lots of good things about you from your boyfriend, Erik here." Charles looked at Erik and wrapped his arms around his waist. Erik kissed the top of his head and put his arm around Charles' shoulder.

"So much good that I'm here to offer you a job during the summer at the university. I want you to work as my personal assistant on this genetic research I'm going to be conducting. You can stop by on the weekends to help me if you'd like." Dr. McFassy smiled, handing Charles a badge. "You'll need this to get in of course."

Charles looked like he was about to faint.  
"A-are you serious?" Professor McFassy nodded. "This is incredible! It' life-changing! Thank you so much!" Charles took the badge and was shaking with excitement.

Dr. McFassy held up his finger. "Under one circumstance though."

Charles nodded.  
"You have to stay with Erik and love with unconditionally. I promise you that he will always love you. I wouldn't be here now if he hadn't loved you. He was the one to contact me and speak so highly of you. That's true love, my boy. I would know, I have a partner myself." Professor McFassy showed his ring finger.

Charles turned to Erik with disbelief. "You did all this for me?"  
Erik grinned. "Who else would I do it for? This is what you deserve. I know it's what you really want. " Erik gave Charles a tight hug and rested his chin on the top of Charles' head.

"No, Erik. What I really want is you. This is all just extra. Sure it's great but I would trade it all for you." Charles said, leaning in to kiss Erik again. Angel and raven broke out into an 'Awww' and Hank and the other guys shifted their weight uncomfortably. They all smiled though.

The bell rang and everyone left to move onto their second block class. Charles and Erik thanked Professor McFassy who shook their hands and left. Holding hands tightly as they walked, Charles and Erik made their way to their next block class. They kissed each other goodbye and went their separate ways.

**A/N: Yay everything is happy again! Or is it? Nah everything is good. I'm gonna be honest I was crying myself when I was writing Erik's speech. I'm wrapping up the story in the next 2 chapters. 2 new chapters up tomorrow (the last two) cause I'm leaving for vacation. I promise that the very last one will be super long. Thanks for reading! Also Professor McFassy man XD It was between that and Professor Stan Lee but I wanted to make the professor gay so I thought McFassy worked best.**


	13. The Black Box and Presentations

**A/N: Hey everyone! I know I said two more chapters today but due to personal stuff I'm only posting one today (so sorry!) Next chapter will be up in 3 days but it will be SUPER DUPER LONG! I'm sorry again but I'm going across country (driving) and I had to spend my morning at the DMV so I was pretty busy. **

The rest of the week went smoothly for both of them. They sat together at lunch, kissed openly in public and no one bothered them. Finally the bell for the end of the day on Friday rang and Charles gave Erik a ride home. They went into Erik's apartment where Edie was cleaning again.

"Oh, Charles! Mein liebling! How are you?" Edie gave him a hug and scuffed up his hair. Erik rolled his eyes and set his backpack on the couch.  
"I'm doing great, Edie. You look even more beautiful than when I last saw you!" Charles said, smiling so brightly that it nearly blinded Erik. Edie blushed and kissed the top of Charles' head. _Kissing my head must be a Lensherr thing. _Charles thought to himself.  
"Charles, you are too sweet. If you could, teach Erik a few things on being sweet. He's too mean and scary all the time." Edie said, poking Erik's stomach.  
"Mutti, stop it…" Erik groaned as she continued to poke his stomach. Charles gave a muffled laugh and Erik gave him a frustrated look.

"Don't mind me boys; I am going to the grocery store for a bit. Charles, help yourself to any food we have. Erik, play nice." Edie winked at Erik and closed the door behind her. Charles was glancing around at family photos when Erik hugged him from behind.  
"You know, we are home alone now, Charles." Erik whispered in Charles ear, breathing on his neck. Charles gulped and turned himself in Erik's arms.  
"I realized that. I also realize that your mother would probably have a heart attack if she walked in on us having sex on your coffee table." Charles said, rolling his eyes.  
"Can we at least make out, please? You're killing me." Erik licked his lips and stared down at Charles. Shrugging, Charles met his lips with Erik's. Charles, feeling confident, pushed Erik against the wall. Shocked by Charles' roughness, Erik placed a hand on his hip and ran his hand through Charles' floppy hair with his other hand. Charles wrapped his arms around Erik's neck. It wasn't long until Charles had jammed his tongue in Erik's mouth. The two stumbled around, knocking over a lamp before settling for the couch.

Charles was lying on top of Erik, kissing him when they heard the door open.  
"Sorry, I just forgot my-"Edie came through the door and stopped mid-sentence. Charles and Erik looked up and their eyes went wide. Charles sat off of Erik and rubbed the back of his head.

"purse." Edie stared at them with a shocked looked and took her purse. Not saying another word, she closed the door behind her. Erik and Charles gave each other awkward glances.  
"I'm not quite sure who that was more awkward for: me or you." Charles said with his face in his hands. Erik tucked a strand of Charles' dark brown hair behind his ear.  
"It is my mother."  
Charles looked at him. "She saw me all over you. She probably thinks I'm a man whore….Oh gosh this is so embarrassing."

Erik scooted over closer to him on the couch and put an arm around his shoulders. "Hey, you tried to warn me. Imagine if we were doing what I originally wanted to do. I think she wouldn't have talked to me for a year." Erik laughed, pulling Charles in closer.

Charles smiled, his head resting on Erik's chest. Erik brushed his hand through Charles' hair, taking in every detail and freckle on Charles' face. He didn't need kissing or sex; this was just perfect for him. Charles closed his eyes, listening to the beats of Erik's heart.

The two sat laying there for the rest of the evening, talking about school and movies they wanted to see. Edie came back an hour later, not mentioning anything that had happened earlier. She went into Erik's room and put something on his bed and then came back to put the rest of the groceries away. Erik eyed his mother, wondering what she had put in his room. Edie finished putting away the food and went down the hall to knit with her friend. Erik got up and ran into his room.

On the bed he found a black box with blue writing. Charles came in behind him.  
"What is it?" Charles asked, trying to peek over Erik's shoulder. Erik turned around and put the box behind him.  
"Nothing." Erik smiled uneasily. Charles raised an eyebrow.

"Erik, show me the box." His voice was firm and he crossed his arms over his chest in a way that reminded Erik of Raven. Erik finally gave in and showed him the box. Charles' eyes widened.

"Your mother bought you condoms?" Charles exclaimed, shoving the box into Erik's hand. Erik went bright red.  
"I think she thought that we were…well you know." Erik rubbed the back of his neck. Charles was red now too.  
"Well we're not."  
"Not yet." Erik gave a shark-like grin. Charles rolled his eyes.  
"No yet." Charles turned and walked back into the kitchen. He took a seat at the kitchen table and Erik followed suit. Charles looked at his watch. It was 9:30.

"I hate to leave but it's getting pretty late. I better get going." Charles announced, standing up. Erik stood up and led him to his car. Outside Erik opened his door for him and gave him a hug. Charles reached up and kissed Erik and Erik used his weight to push Charles against his car. Erik pulled away when he heard a cat call from someone in their apartment. Blushing, he said goodbye to Charles and watched him pull out of the parking lot.

The following Monday was their art presentation day for Charles and Erik. Charles volunteered to go first much to Erik's dismay and Mr. Howlett agreed. Charles set up the presentation which they did first. Charles got all the lines with hard and complex art terms and words that Erik still didn't know how to pronounce. Erik explained how Michelangelo made some of his famous pieces and Charles explained the story behind it. The presentation was perfect, short and to the point but with enough detail to make someone understand it.

Erik presented the portrait to the class. He could hear someone in the back making a joke saying "Why didn't the fags draw him naked?" but Erik chose to ignore that. Mr. Howlett was impressed but kept his face stone hard. Charles concluded with a few points and everyone clapped unenthusiastically. But then again, it's a high school art class so Charles wasn't expecting much more. He handed Mr. Howlett their written paper and he took it with a nod.  
"Lensherr." Mr. Howlett called Erik over.  
"Yeah?" Erik asked, eyeing him. Charles went back to his seat. Mr. Howlett took a blow of his cigar and puffed a ring into the air.  
"Was that project so bad?"  
Erik laughed. "No sir. I'm glad it worked out. You got me a boyfriend and best friend out of it all." Erik smiled, nudging his head at Charles who was reading a book quietly.

"Good. Group projects aren't for everyone so I'm glad you didn't kill him. Plus he helped save your grade." Mr. Howlett said, taking another drag of his cigar. Erik nodded and smiled before heading back to his seat.

"What'd he have to say?" Charles asked, looking up from his book when Erik returned.  
"Oh nothing much. He said we did a good job." Erik sat down next to Charles. He peeked into Charles' book and after not being able to read the first sentence and understand it, Erik gave up and just stared around the classroom.

Charles smiled and reached down to hold Erik's hand under the table. Erik's hand was hard and calloused from hard work while Charles' were soft and small with the occasional paper cut from reading so much. Erik wasn't sure if it was just him or not but Charles' fingers seemed to fit perfectly with his; as if they were meant to be together like this.

After a few presentations, the bell rang for the end of the day and Charles and Erik decided to go to a café to celebrate their good presentation. Charles picked the café they went to after Erik's detention. He said the restaurant brought back happy memories and was kind of their first unofficial date.

The restaurant was fairly empty as it was 5 o'clock on a Monday afternoon. A polite host showed them to their booth and gave them their menus. Erik and Charles were talking about possible meal options when a snooty voice interrupted them.

"Haven't I seen you two before?" Erik looked up to see the sneering waiter from the last time they came here. "Oh right, I remember you two. What brings you out here again?"

Erik gave him his best death glare. "We are on a date, thank you very much."  
The waiter sneered more. "Oh, you guys are gay. Well for you we have the faggot French fry platter. And you," The waiter turned to Charles. "You would be much better off without this thug. Aren't you sick of buying everything for him?"

Erik had lost his temper now. Charles could see him jaw flexing and his fists clenched. The waiter seemed to notice this and turned to Erik smugly.  
"Sorry, do you prefer Queer?" And after that, Erik lost it.

Erik's fist met the waiter's face with a crack. The guy's nose was broken and bloody after just one blow. Erik wasn't done here; he was now on top of the waiter and punching him like crazy. Charles was startled and quickly jumped up to knock Erik off of the guy.

"He deserves this Charles! You don't believe me? Tell me I'm wrong!" Erik was trying to kick the guy now.  
"I'd rather not have to pick you up from juvy, Erik!" Charles managed to grab both of his arms and drag Erik backwards and away from the guy. The waiter was bleeding all over the place and has two swollen eyes that Charles knew would be black eyes by tomorrow. Dragging Erik outside, Charles huffed and rubbed his forehead.

"You know I actually enjoyed that restaurant. Now we can never go back. They probably have out pictures on a 'Do Not Serve' list. Erik, I appreciate you defending me and all but unnecessary violence isn't always the options. There can be peace." Charles was inside the car now. Erik buckled his seatbelt.

"In this case, Peace was never an option. This guy deserved that. "Erik cracked his knuckles and his neck. Charles rolled his eyes.  
"You aren't helping that thug reputation. You're lucky I love you enough to look past the fact you enjoy betting up waiters senselessly." Charles smiled at him, giving Erik a peck on his cheek.  
"You're lucky I look past your obsession with sweater vests. I just love you that much." Erik teased, poking Charles' stomach. IN defense, he covered his argyle sweater vest with his arm. Blushing, Charles shouted back. "Hey you were turtlenecks all the time! And I happen to like my vests! Besides, Raven and I are going shopping soon. You can come if you want."

Erik gave him a shark grin. "So I can dress you up like a Barbie doll? The limited addition Charles Xavier model, everyone!" Erik announced to a fake crowd. Charles pushed his arm playfully.

"I think the workers would frown upon you coming into the changing stall with me." Charles said, focusing on the road. Erik smiled and ran a hand through his hair.  
"Where in the world did you get the idea that I wanted to do that?"  
Charles gave him an 'Oh really?' look. "Says the guy whose mother bought him condoms."  
Erik and Charles laughed together.

"Hey, can't hurt to be protected." Erik winked at Charles.  
"Maybe later. Like graduation." Charles said, smiling at Erik. Erik looked back at him with wide eyes.  
"That's in forever! You can't make me wait that long!" Erik pleaded with Charles.  
"Nope, I'm sticking with graduation day." Charles gave Erik a 'I'm sorry' smile and Erik replied with a 'hmph!'.

**A/N: sorry I'm not uploading two chapters today (and making this one so SHORT!) I felt so bad when I realized I couldn't ): I hate to disappoint my wonderful readers. Next chapter will be very long and is kinda like a high school reunion about 15 years later so I promise to make it interesting and full of surprises. Thank you everyone who has been reading this! I promise the next chapter will be up in 3 days! **


	14. Reunions and Flashbacks

**A/N: Sorry this is later than promised! It turns out the house we stayed in did not have any wifi so I had no way of posting this :/ So sorry! I promise that this chapter will be the best one yet and full of surprises! **

**Also: the story goes from real time to flashback. The real-time is 15 years after their graduation. If it's in **_**italics **_**then it's back to their graduation. A dotted line while separate the flashbacks form real-time along with the italics **

Erik touched his wedding ring, turning it on his finger. He did this went he was waiting and it was usually just an idle thought. He heard the bathroom door open and the light filled the bedroom.  
"How do I look?" Charles asked from in the doorway. He had a crisp white button up and a blue suit jacket and pants. Erik got up, smirking at Charles.

"Don't you think they will remember you more with a sweater vest and glasses?" Erik teased, kissed Charles' forehead.  
Charles rolled his eyes. "Well then you should wear a turtleneck for the whole thug look."  
Erik laughed. "Oh really? But seriously Charles, you look fine." Erik kissed Charles and walked into the bathroom. Fixing his hair, his ring glinted in the light from the mirror.

_15 Years Ago_

_It was graduation day for Erik and Charles. Charles drove to Erik's house to pick up Edie and Erik for the ceremony. Edie insisted on taking numerous photos of them together in their robes. Erik rested his arm on Charles' shoulder and Charles put his around Erik's waist. Edie was so happy and spent forever taking pictures. The boys finally convinced her to stop and that they needed to go. Erik let his mother sit upfront while he sat in the back, exchanging glances with Charles from the mirror. _

_The ceremony was long, and frankly boring, until they called up the valedictorian. Charles got up and took his place behind the podium. Erik smiled and watched his boyfriend give an inspiring speech on the future and the past._

_"The things that make us different form each other are what make us ourselves. If you don't truly be yourself, you'll never know what makes you 'you'. I know who I am because of one person. I'd like to thank Erik Lensherr for showing me that it's best to be yourself because you will be loved for it. If it wasn't for him, i don't think I would even want to give a speech to you all. Erik if you could stand up for us." Charles pointed in the crowd to a now embarrassed Erik Lensherr. Everyone was turning to look at him as he slowly stood up. Everyone broke out into a clap and Erik could hear Edie happily saying 'That's my son!' to everyone around her. Erik focus was solely on Charles. They stared at each other and Charles mouthed 'I love you' to Erik and winked at him. _

_The clapping stopped and Charles went back to his inspiring speech on the future and education. Once he finished, he took a step from the mic and bowed a little as the crowd clapped again. Erik was smiling, watching his boyfriend walk back to his seat. The rest of the ceremony was long and boring to Erik so he just kept staring at Charles sitting on stage. _

_The handing out of the diplomas had begun and Erik watched his classmates get up one by one. The 1__st__ of his 'kinda-friends' to go up was Sean Cassidy. With a bush of curly red hair sprouting out from under his cap, Sean went up and got his diploma. He turned and gave thumbs up to the crowd before scurrying on the stage. The next person he recognized was Emma Frost. She walked up wearing way too much makeup and her hair was pin straight under her cap. Looking like she was just anointing queen of the universe, she got shook the principle's hand and waved to the crowd. Erik rolled his eyes with disgust._

_Now it was Erik's turn. He stood at the bottom on the stage steps; waiting for his name to be called. The principle took the next diploma from the stack and said 'Erik Lensherr' into the mic. Erik gave him a angered look for pronouncing his last name wrong and went up on stage. He shook the man's hand and got the diploma. He could hear his mother shouting out 'Congratulations!' and 'You rock, Erik!' in German from the crowd. Erik was about to walk off stage when Charles jumped up and hugged him on stage. "Good job, Erik. I'm so proud." Charles whispered to him before kissing him quickly on stage. Erik could hear a few gasps and whispers as he walked down the stairs and back to his seat. He really couldn't care less at that moment._

_Erik was back at his seat and watched the people after him go up. Charles' friend Moira was up now and Charles was clapping at her form his seat. She shook the principle's hand and Charles got up to give her a small hug on stage. Moira smiled at him after hugging Charles and went off stage. Darwin was close behind her in line with the last name Munoz. He went up normally and smiled at the crowd like everyone before him. Erik was clapping for him since Darwin was actually nice compared some of the other he was 'kinda-friends' with. _

_Janos went after some kid with the last name Quant. He and Azazel took like total douchebags as normal. Not a whole lot of people clapped for him or Azazel. Angel Salvadore leaded the 'S' last names. Erik clapped for her as she came up on stage with her graduation gown billowing behind her. Giving a nod to the crowd after getting her diploma, Angel walked back down the stairs and to her seat._

_Shortly after Angel came Shaw. Erik laughed to himself when only Emma, Janos and Azazel were clapping for him. The whole ceremony was pretty much dead silent. It seemed that even the student's parents knew not to clap for him. Looking pissed off; Shaw swiped his diploma and strutted off the stage, flipping off Charles behind his back. Erik chose to let that one go since it was bad form to run up and kill your fellow graduate on the stage. _

_Alex Summers was the last of his 'kinda-friends' to go up. Erik clapped for him and sat in silence as he watched the rest of the S, T, U, V and W last names go through. Then it was the moment he had been waiting for. _

_Charles Xavier was the first of the X names to be called up. He got up from his seat on stage and shook the principle's hand and gave him a quick hug. The whole crowd was clapping and Erik found himself standing up, cheering loudly for Charles. Even a couple hundred feet from the stage, Erik could still see Charles blushing. Erik looked around and saw Raven and Hank cheering loudly and even Edie was standing up now too. The clapping died down and Erik took his seat._

_After the ceremony the graduates were dismissed to go to their families and say goodbye to their friends before the parties. Erik went straight to finding Charles. He waited by the stage stairs. Charles say he and practically ran off the stage and jumped on Erik._

"_Erik! ConGRADulations! I saw you clapping for me! Thank you for that!" Charles said, wrapping his arms around Erik's neck and kissing him. Erik smiled and wrapped his arms around Charles' waist.  
"Did you expect me not to, Xavier? You're valedictorian! Thank you for mentioning me in the speech. I'm not sure who was tearing up more; me or Edie." Erik laughed, taking off his cap with a free hand. He took of Charles' and rustled up his hair. " You excited for the party tonight?" _

_Charles smiled and removed his arms form around Erik to fix his now messy hair._

"_I guess so. Why did the student council have to pick my house to have it though? Half the student body hates me." Charles sighed, playing with the tassel on his cap. The two walked to through the crowd.  
"Maybe because you have the biggest house in the school? Charles, I promise you that it'll be fun. Besides, you made me a promise almost two years ago. I'm not letting that slide away" Erik whispered in Charles' ear as he put a hand on the small of his back and wrapped his hand around until it was around Charles' waist._

_Charles was a pretty shade of red now and stared at the ground.  
"I was hoping you'd forget that by now."  
"How could I?" Erik gave him a shark like smile and nipped at Charles' ear. They continued walking, talking about how funny it was that Shaw got no applause until they found Raven and Hank. Raven gave Charles and Erik both long hugs, saying how proud and happy she was for them. Hank gave them a little nod, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose. _

_They found Edie and she started crying when she saw them. Hugging both of her 'babies' tightly, Edie said how proud she was of them and how handsome they looked.  
"Edie, Erik and my friends were going to a restaurant to get a late lunch. All their parents are invited so that means you're invited too!" Charles smiled at her and then whispered in Erik's ear. "Don't worry it's not the one with the waiter that you assaulted."  
Edie smiled and nodded her head. "I would love to come." _

* * *

Erik helped Charles get into their car. Erik ran over to the driver side of the car and started the car. Charles picked the music and put on Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major. Smiling at a memory, Charles turned to Erik.  
"Do remember when we were first dating and we got into that fight over you 'touching' Emma Frost's boobs? This is the song you had the orchestra play when you went all 'Glee' on me. "Charles laughed to himself seeing Erik wince at the memory.

"Hey, I didn't want to lose you. In case you haven't realized I've always been willing to make sacrifices so I can be with you." Erik's tone was serious and firm. Charles opened his mouth to say something but just stared at Erik with his eyes tearing up. He shut his eyelids to force the tears back. Charles opened them and looked out the window.  
"Can we not talk about _that_?" Charles croaked out, trying not to cry again. Erik put his focus on the road and gripped the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles were white.

"Okay."

* * *

_The late lunch was over around 5 and Erik got a ride to the Xavier house with Charles. The party was at 7pm and despite the fact that the maids had been preparing all day there was still lots of work to do. All the valuable items were placed in the basement and locked with a butler guarding it all night. A long table of endless food was let up along with a few tables and chairs. The balcony was opened up and music prepared by Raven was playing on continuous loop._

_Erik went up to Charles' bathroom to get ready. He wore a black button down shirt with black dress pants. He put on a tan leather jacket to make him look more like he was going to a party and not a funeral. He slapped on some cologne and fixed the part of his hair. Today had to be perfect._

_Guests started to arrive at 7:50 and the music was kicked up a few notches. Charles greeted Erik as he walked down the stairs. Charles was wearing a blue button down shirt and black dress pants. Erik kissed the top of his head.  
"No one's going to recognize you. Shouldn't you be wearing a sweater vest and your glasses" Erik teased him._

"_Ha-ha. Very funny. Seriously, do I look alright?" Charles asked, stepping back so Erik could see his whole outfit.  
Erik stroked his chin with a hand. "Hmm. Can you do a turn for me?" Charles nodded and started turning. "How about a little catwalk for us?" Erik asked, holding back laughter. Charles rolled his eyes and playfully punched Erik's arm._

"_Now you're just mocking me!"  
Erik smiled and grabbed Charles' hand. With one movement he pulled Charles in close to him and whispered in a husky voice. "I think those clothes will look even better on the floor tonight." Erik winked at the blushing Charles and walked away to go talk to Raven for a moment. Charles just stood there, sweating with nervousness._

_Almost all of the graduating class was at the party and even with a house as big as Charles' it still felt cramp. Erik and Charles spent the majority of the party talking with Moira, Angel, Darwin, Sean and Alex. Raven and Hank went to the movies since it was a senior class only party and they were only sophomores. _

_Unfortunately for Charles, Erik and just about everyone there, Shaw and his gang were invited too. Since the party was for the whole class no one was excluded. Shaw showed up in a dark grey suit with a red button down shirt and his arm around Emma. She was wearing a skimpy white dress and some type of powder makeup that made her look like she was sparkling. Janos and Azazel followed and zoned in on the food and girls at the party._

"_Look what the cat dragged in." Angel said, snickering into her drink. The group turned to see Shaw and his gang walking towards them now. Shaw was smiling and was the first to speak.  
"What a fine party and place you've got, Charles. We can always rely on the gays for home decoration." Shaw said, taking a sip of the beer he brought._

"_Shaw, I can't kick you out just yet but this is an alcohol free party. I thought you got the memo." Charles said, shifting his weight. Shaw smiled.  
"You expect to have a high school party with 300 kids and no alcohol, buddy? You must be a dreamer." Shaw shifted his attention to Erik. "Now look at you! Dressed in all black; who died? Or is that all that mommy could afford to patches the holes in for you?" Janos snickered in the back._

"_Says the man who looks like a 40 year old virgin." Alex commented from behind Erik. The group laughed and Shaw just stared at them, looking rather pissed off.  
"Oh, very funny. Since when you do guys hang out with the fags?" Shaw asked.  
"When we decided it'd be nice to actually get applause at graduation." Angel scoffed, crossing her arms. The group laughed again and Angel winked at Shaw with a 'suck-on-that-one' face. _

_Shaw just smiled rudely and directed his gang away. Erik and Charles were laughing so hard that they were tearing up a little.  
"When did you become so sassy, Angel?" Erik asked her when he finally calmed down. Angel just smiled and took a sip of her drink.  
"You obviously don't know me well enough, honey." Angel giggled and the group continued talking. _

_Charles had run off around 10 to use the bathroom. Once he saw Charles close the bathroom door, Erik left the group and headed upstairs. He told them to tell Charles when he got back that he had gone upstairs. Erik sat on Charles' bed and put something in the bedside drawer. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply, trying to relax himself. _

_Charles came back from the bathroom with a relieved look on his face. He walked back to his group and did a mental head count. Erik was missing.  
"Where'd Erik run off to?" Charles asked once he reached them. The group looked at each other.  
"He went upstairs. Says he needs you up there immediately." Darwin was the one to speak up. Charles flashed him a look of mortal shock and started sweating again._

"_Oh, very well. I-I'll see you all later." Charles stuttered and left the group. His heart was beating fast as sweat ran off his temples. _I'm not ready for this…Oh my god, I can't do this. Why am I so nervous?! _Charles thought to himself as he walked up the stairs and reached his door. He knocked once before opening it slowly. Erik hopped off the bed and walked to Charles._

"_I've been waiting for you, Charles." Erik said, walking closer to him.  
"Oh I was just in the bathroom and then I-"Charles was cut off by Erik's lips. Erik used his strength to pin Charles to the door with a loud thud. With one hand he fumbled with the door knob until he had it locked. Now Erik's attention was on Charles only. _

_Erik lifted himself off Charles and pulled him to the bed. Erik pinned Charles underneath him and started to unbutton Charles' shirt. He had only undown the first button when he stopped and got off of Charles. He smiled at Charles.  
"I just want to make sure I have our little rings ready for the actions." Erik winked at Charles and got up to the bedside table. _

"_Erik, I'm so nervous. I don't know if I can do it." Charles said, feeling a wave of embarrassment as Erik winked at him. _Oh no, he's getting condoms. Well at least it'll be safe...No Charles shut up! You can't do this; it'll just bring Erik down! Oh boy, he's got the drawer open now. _Charles sat and panicked to himself._

"_Too late; I've already got them." Erik smiled and took Charles' hand. He kept his other hand behind his back. Charles was on his feet now and stared at Erik's eyes.  
Erik bent down on one knee. _Oh no, here comes the condoms…oh no! I seriously might pass out…. _Charles continued to panic to himself._

"_Charles, the only ring I want you to put on tonight is this one." Erik smiled and removed his hand form behind his back. In it was a silver wedding band. Charles' eyes widened.  
"Y-You want to….marry me?!" Charles could barely piece together words as Erik took Charles' hands. He stood up and looked directly in his eyes.  
"The only person I could ever marry is you." Erik said and his face softened. _

_Charles smiled and blinked back tears. "Well then you will be one happy man, Erik. Yes, I'll marry you." Charles said before Erik kissed him. The kiss wasn't like any kiss they had shared recently. This one was like their first; full of fulfilled longings and happiness. Erik slipped the ring on Charles' left hand. _

"_It's not much but Edie and I have been saving up for them for a few months now. I hope you like it." Erik said shyly, letting Charles put on his ring. Charles looked up and smiled.  
"It's perfect, Erik. I can't believe you're now my fiancé. I've dreamed about calling you that." Charles kissed him softly.  
"Charles Lensherr or Erik Xavier? Which sounds good to you?" Erik asked.  
"Both sound perfect. I don't care about the last name, Erik. I just want to be your husband." Charles smiled and the two walked back downstairs to the party, hand-in-hand._

* * *

Erik helped Charles get out of the car again. They went inside they're old high school and a wave of nostalgia hit them immediately. The school had changed so much that it was barely recognizable. They could hardly recognize anyone there as well.

"Charles? Erik? Oh my gosh!" A short girl with a dark brown bob cut and a dark blue dress came running up to them. She gave them both hugs.  
"Moira! It's so good to see you!" Charles smiled at his old best friend. She gave him a sympathetic look.  
"Charles, we haven't talked in ages! Not after…_that_ happened." Moira chose her words carefully. Charles frowned slightly.

"My apologizes. I've been busier than ever with my job and keeping up with this guy." Charles signaled a thumb at Erik who was looking around the gymnasium. Moira smiled and said she had to run off somewhere.

Charles turned his attention towards Erik. "Will you please cheer up? I know you didn't like high school but at least act like you did."  
Erik gave him an angered glance. "You know I didn't want to come here. For you; I don't think we need people asking about _it."  
_Charles gave him a stern look and lowered his voice. "I'm perfectly capable of answering anyone's questions, Erik. "  
"I know you can answer them but I also know you don't want to." Erik said and the conversation ended when a group of four people came up to them.

"Charles! Erik! I've miss you!" Angel Salvadore smiled and gave them both hugs. Erik could recognize Darwin, Alex and Sean standing behind her. Charles smiled and they all chatted for a bit.

It was Sean that brought it up.  
"I'm sorry for putting this out there but what happened to you, Charles?"

_5 years ago_

_"Erik, I don't think I can drive home tonight. I've drank my fill for the night." Charles said, putting down his seventh beer. Erik nodded and handed the bartender their bill.  
"Fine. We can walk." Erik said, smiling at Charles._

_It was near midnight outside when they finished paying. The two walked hand-in-hand, laughing about something funny from the bar. They turned the corner to see a man holding a woman at gun point. From what they could see he was trying to rob her._

_"Hey! Stop that!" Erik called out, running up to the man. The girl saw the robber was distracted and took it as her cue to run away.  
Charles stood behind Erik. "Erik, honey, I don't think this is a good idea. He's got a gun."  
"It's fine. I've got this. Call 911." Erik whispered to Charles as he approached the armed man. The robber held out his gun and kept it aimed at Erik.  
Erik grabbed the gun and punched the man in the face. He pointed the gun up in the air in case the gunman tried to shoot it. _

_Erik was now in possession of the gun and kept it pointed at the robber. Charles was quietly talking to the 911 operator. Erik looked back at Charles for a second and the robber took the opportunity to kicked Erik's knees. Erik tumbled down and the two were fighting on the ground. Charles yelled and jumped over to get the gun Erik and the robber were fighting over. With the gun in his hand, Charles was the new target. The robber shoved Erik off of him and went to tackle Charles down. They were now fighting on the ground when Erik heard a gunshot fire._

_He looked down at the two as the robber got up and started running in the opposite direction from them. Charles was on the ground, screaming in pain. Erik knelt down beside him and saw the bullet stuck deep into Charles' back. Charles was screaming and crying._

_Another person came out from the shadows, pointing their gun at them. This person, who was female, turned out to be a police officer that was watching the scene. She knelt down beside Erik.  
"Is he alright?" The police officer asked, taking out her flashlight. Erik looked up at her._

"Moira_?!" He hissed, cradling the shot Charles in his arms. Moira gasped and flashed the light on Charles' face. She let out a cry and dropped the flashlight._

"_We need to get him to a hospital! Oh no, Charles, I am so sorry!" Moira cried and tried to help Erik lift Charles up.  
"No, get away from him. You did this to him! Stand back!" Erik hissed, trying to get Charles onto his feet. Moira was still crying.  
"I-I thought he was the robber. I meant no harm I just-"  
Charles let out a moan of pain and collapsed onto the ground. Erik propped his head up.  
"Erik, I…I can't feel my legs. I can't feel my legs." Charles repeated over and over again, gasping for breath. Erik picked him up wedding style and carried him all the way to the nearest hospital, tears falling down his face at a fast rate._

* * *

"It's a long story, my friends. Not one for a once every 5 years party like this! Now how has life been treating you all? What are you all doing these days?" Charles decided to change the subject when he saw Erik wince.

"I work at Burger King. I'm in a scream band on the side though. We call ourselves 'The Banshee Boys'." Sean stuck out his tongue out and did the 'rock on' sign with his hands.  
"I'm working at a gentlemen's club. Just until I get some more money to go back to college." Angel said, rubbing the back of her neck.  
"After juvy, I moved into Darwin's apartment and we're roommates now. I'm actually working at the juvy now as a parole officer." Alex scuffed the floor with his shoe.  
"I work as a taxi driver in New York City." Darwin said, adjusting his shirt collar.

"Well that's wonderful news everyone! A job these days it's a great thing to have! I'm currently professing at the local Ivy League school and Erik here is an architect." Charles said proudly.

Erik smiled to himself and gave Charles a kiss on the top of his head.  
"Erik, how is your mother?" Angel asked.  
"That's another long story. Not one for a party as Charles had said." Erik gave a meek little smile and stared at the ground.

Darwin noticed this and decided to change the subject.  
"So how exactly did you two meet officially? You two didn't really have the same crowd."  
Charles looked up at Erik and took his hand in his.  
"It all started with a group project."

**A/N: THE END! I'm not telling you if Edie died or not MUAHA! It's up to you. Well this is the end :'( My first Cherik story is over! It certainly isn't my last! I'd like to thank 2badass4you and Hinatasara for inspiration and reviewing every chapter! Also thanks to anyone who read, reviewed or faved this story! I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint!  
Also you can follow me on my tumblr (grooovy-mutation is my url) for Cherik stuff and any word on when my new story will be up! Thanks!**


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